Method of controlling and apparatus of receiving mobile service data

ABSTRACT

A method of processing broadcast data in a broadcast transmitting system is presented. The method includes performing Reed-Solomon (RS) encoding and Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) encoding on mobile service data bytes to generate an RS frame, wherein the RS frame comprises an RS frame payload including the mobile service data bytes, RS parity data bytes added at bottom ends of columns of the RS frame payload and CRC data bytes added at right ends of rows of the RS frame payload having the RS parity data bytes, dividing the RS frame into a plurality of portions, wherein each of the plurality of portions has an equal size of data bytes, converting the data bytes of the plurality of portions into data bit, and encoding each of the data bits at a code rate of 1/H to output data symbols, wherein H is greater than 1.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/101,634, filed on Apr. 11, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,112,777, whichclaims the benefit of earlier filing date and right of priority toKorean Patent Application No. 10-2007-0035832, filed on Apr. 12, 2007and also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. Nos.60/947,984, filed on Jul. 4, 2007, and 60/911,825, filed on Apr. 13,2007.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus fortransmitting/receiving digital data including electronic programinformation.

2. Discussion of the Related Art

The Vestigial Sideband (VSB) transmission mode, which is adopted as thestandard for digital broadcasting in North America and the Republic ofKorea, is a system using a single carrier method. Therefore, thereceiving performance of the digital broadcast receiving system may bedeteriorated in a poor channel environment. Particularly, sinceresistance to changes in channels and noise is more highly required whenusing portable and/or mobile broadcast receivers, the receivingperformance may be even more deteriorated when transmitting mobileservice data by the VSB transmission mode.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to an apparatus forreceiving mobile service data and a method for controlling the same thatsubstantially obviates one or more problems due to limitations anddisadvantages of the related art.

An object of the present invention is to provide a digital broadcastsystem which has very strong resistance to noise and channel variationunder a mobile environment, and a data processing method for the same.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a digitalbroadcast system which additionally encodes electronic programinformation and transmits the encoded electronic program information toa mobile reception system, thereby improving a reception (Rx)performance of the mobile reception system, and a data processing methodfor use in the digital broadcast system.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a digitalbroadcast system which inserts known data recognized by an agreementbetween a transmission end and a reception end into a predetermined areaof a data region, and transmits electronic program information, therebyimproving a reception (Rx) performance of the mobile reception system,and a data processing method for use in the digital broadcast system.

Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will beset forth in part in the description which follows and in part willbecome apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art uponexamination of the following or may be learned from practice of theinvention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention may berealized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in thewritten description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordance with thepurpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, amethod for controlling mobile service data comprising: receiving codedmobile service data packet; demodulating the received mobile servicedata packet; establishing a storing of the mobile service data; andcontrolling the storing of the established mobile service data.

In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided anapparatus for receiving mobile service data comprising: a signalreceiver for receiving coded mobile service data packet; a demodulatorfor demodulating the received mobile service data packet; and acontroller for controlling a storing of the mobile service data.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description of the present invention areexemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide furtherexplanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention andtogether with the description serve to explain the principle of theinvention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram showing a general structure of adigital broadcasting system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram showing an example of a servicemultiplexer of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram showing an example of a transmitterof FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram showing an example of a pre-processorof FIG. 3;

FIG. 5( a) to FIG. 5( e) illustrate error correction encoding and errordetection encoding processed according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B illustrate data configuration before and after adata deinterleaver in a digital broadcast transmitting system accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a process of dividing a RS frame for configuring adata group according to the present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates exemplary operations of a packet multiplexer fortransmitting the data group according to the present invention;

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram showing a structure of a blockprocessor according to the present invention;

FIG. 10 illustrates a detailed block diagram of a symbol encoder shownin FIG. 9;

FIG. 11( a) to FIG. 11( c) illustrate a variable length interleavingprocess of a symbol interleaver shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 12A and FIG. 12B illustrate block diagrams showing structures of ablock processor according to another embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 13( a) to FIG. 13( c) illustrate block encoding and trellisencoding processes according to the present invention;

FIG. 14 illustrates a block diagram showing a trellis encoding moduleaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 15A and FIG. 15B a block processor and a trellis encoding moduleconnected to one another according to the present invention;

FIG. 16 illustrates a block processor according to another embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 17 illustrates a block processor according to yet anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 18 illustrates an example of a group formatter inserting andtransmitting a transmission parameter;

FIG. 19 illustrates an example of a block processor inserting andtransmitting a transmission parameter;

FIG. 20 illustrates an example of a packet formatter inserting andtransmitting a transmission parameter;

FIG. 21 illustrates an example for inserting and transmitting thetransmission parameter in a field synchronization segment area;

FIG. 22 illustrates a block diagram showing a structure of a digitalbroadcast receiving system according to the present invention;

FIG. 23 is a block diagram illustrating a reception system according tothe present invention;

FIG. 24 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary errorcorrection decoding process according to the present invention;

FIG. 25 is a structural diagram illustrating a bit stream syntaxassociated with an Event Information Table (EIT) including electronicprogram information according to the present invention;

FIG. 26A is a structural diagram illustrating a syntax structureassociated with a table indicating current time information according tothe present invention;

FIG. 26B is a structural diagram illustrating a local time offsetdescriptor syntax according to the present invention;

FIG. 27 is a structural diagram illustrating a syntax associated with alocal time offset table according to the present invention;

FIG. 28 shows a display format of an Electronic Program Guide (EPG)according to the present invention;

FIG. 29 shows an output format of an Electronic Program Guide (EPG)according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 30 shows an output format of an Electronic Program Guide (EPG)according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 31 shows another output format of an Electronic Program Guide (EPG)according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 32 shows another output format of an Electronic Program Guide (EPG)according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 33 shows another output format of an Electronic Program Guide (EPG)according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 34A and FIG. 34B show two-dimensional pivot functions according toan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 35A is a flow chart illustrating a method for establishing astoring of mobile service data according to the present invention;

FIG. 35B shows an exemplary record setup image displayed on a programguide according to the present invention;

FIG. 36A is a flow chart illustrating a method for establishing thestoring of mobile service data according to another embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 36B shows another record setup image displayed on a program guideaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 37A is a flow chart illustrating a method for establishing thestoring of mobile service data according to another embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 37B shows another record setup image displayed on a program guideaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 38 shows a method for changing a record setup concept of the recordsetup program according to the present invention;

FIG. 39 shows a storage capacity capable of being stored in a storagespace according to the present invention;

FIG. 40 is a flow chart illustrating a method for changing a recordquality of a record setup program according to the present invention;

FIG. 41A is a flow chart illustrating a method for recording the recordsetup program according to the present invention;

FIG. 41B shows a storage unit according to the present invention;

FIG. 42A is a flow chart illustrating a method for controlling thestoring of multi-input signals according to the present invention;

FIG. 42B shows an exemplary image for simultaneously displaying a firstsignal and a second signal according to the present invention;

FIG. 43 shows an example of the merging of multi-electronic programinformation of multi-sources according to the present invention;

FIG. 44A and FIG. 44B show exemplary output views of integrated sourceprogram information according to the present invention;

FIG. 45 is a flow chart illustrating a method for recording the receivedprogram according to the present invention;

FIG. 46A is a flow chart illustrating a method for recording thereceived program according to the present invention;

FIG. 46B shows an exemplary storage file formed by a record-pausefunction of FIG. 46A according to the present invention;

FIG. 47 to FIG. 50 show a variety of embodiments of the editing functionaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 51 shows an example of the stored list according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 52A is a block diagram illustrating a thumbnail image decoderaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 52B is a detailed block diagram illustrating a test unit of thethumbnail image decoder according to the present invention;

FIG. 53 is a flow chart illustrating a method for executing a previewfunction on the stored list according to the present invention;

FIG. 54 shows a progress-information OSD according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 55 shows visual position indicators and mode-text informationaccording to the present invention; and

FIG. 56 shows an example of a progress control according to the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be usedthroughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. In addition,although the terms used in the present invention are selected fromgenerally known and used terms, some of the terms mentioned in thedescription of the present invention have been selected by the applicantat his or her discretion, the detailed meanings of which are describedin relevant parts of the description herein. Furthermore, it is requiredthat the present invention is understood, not simply by the actual termsused but by the meaning of each term lying within.

Among the terms used in the description of the present invention, mainservice data correspond to data that can be received by a fixedreceiving system and may include audio/video (A/V) data. Morespecifically, the main service data may include A/V data of highdefinition (HD) or standard definition (SD) levels and may also includediverse data types required for data broadcasting. Also, the known datacorrespond to data pre-known in accordance with a pre-arranged agreementbetween the receiving system and the transmitting system. Additionally,in the present invention, mobile service data may include at least oneof mobile service data, pedestrian service data, and handheld servicedata, and are collectively referred to as mobile service data forsimplicity. Herein, the mobile service data not only correspond tomobile/pedestrian/handheld service data (M/P/H service data) but mayalso include any type of service data with mobile or portablecharacteristics. Therefore, the mobile service data according to thepresent invention are not limited only to the M/P/H service data.

The above-described mobile service data may correspond to data havinginformation, such as program execution files, stock information, and soon, and may also correspond to A/V data. Most particularly, the mobileservice data may correspond to A/V data having lower resolution andlower data rate as compared to the main service data. For example, if anNV codec that is used for a conventional main service corresponds to aMPEG-2 codec, a MPEG-4 advanced video coding (AVC) or scalable videocoding (SVC) having better image compression efficiency may be used asthe NV codec for the mobile service. Furthermore, any type of data maybe transmitted as the mobile service data. For example, transportprotocol expert group (TPEG) data for broadcasting real-timetransportation information may be serviced as the main service data.

Also, a data service using the mobile service data may include weatherforecast services, traffic information services, stock informationservices, viewer participation quiz programs, real-time polls & surveys,interactive education broadcast programs, gaming services, servicesproviding information on synopsis, character, background music, andfilming sites of soap operas or series, services providing informationon past match scores and player profiles and achievements, and servicesproviding information on product information and programs classified byservice, medium, time, and theme enabling purchase orders to beprocessed. Herein, the present invention is not limited only to theservices mentioned above.

Electronic program information is information of the mobile servicedata. In this case, the electronic program information may be programinformation associated with a channel and time of A/V data contained inthe mobile service data, or may also be channel- and time-informationassociated with either data broadcasting or software updating. However,it should be noted that the above-mentioned examples are disclosed foronly illustrative purposes. Needless to say, the above-mentionedelectronic program information of the present invention includes allinformation including the above-mentioned mobile service datadescription.

The electronic program information contained in the PSI/PSIP data istransmitted to a destination. If there is a specific table equipped withprogram information in the PSIP/PSI table, a transmitter may includeelectronic program information in all kinds of tables, and transmit theresultant table including the electronic program information.

A receiver may extract program information from all kinds of tables, andprovide a user with the program information. In an embodiment of thepresent invention, the receiver extracts the program information from anEvent Information Table (EIT) or a Virtual Channel Table (VCT), andprovide the user with the extracted program information.

If an unexpected error occurs while the transmitter transmits electronicprogram information to the receiver, the receiver may not transmit theprogram information to the user, or may transmit wrong information tothe user. Therefore, there is needed a system capable of transmittingthe electronic program information from the transmitter to the receiverunder a mobile reception environment.

A transmission system according to the present invention has noinfluence on a conventional reception system while the conventionalreception system receives main service data. Namely, the transmissionsystem is backward compatible with the reception system. And, thetransmission system multiplexes main service data and mobile servicedata in the same physical channel, and transmits the multiplexed data.

The transmission system according to the present invention additionallyencodes mobile service data and electronic program information, insertsknown data pre-recognized by an agreement between thetransmission/reception ends into the encoded result, and transmits theinserted result.

In the case of using the above-mentioned transmission system, thereception system can receive mobile service data while in motion, andcan stably receive the mobile service data irrespective of a distortionor noise of a channel.

General Description of a Transmitting System

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram showing a general structure of adigital broadcast transmitting system according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. Herein, the digital broadcast transmitting includes aservice multiplexer 100 and a transmitter 200. Herein, the servicemultiplexer 100 is located in the studio of each broadcast station, andthe transmitter 200 is located in a site placed at a predetermineddistance from the studio. The transmitter 200 may be located in aplurality of different locations. Also, for example, the plurality oftransmitters may share the same frequency. And, in this case, theplurality of transmitters receives the same signal. Accordingly, in thereceiving system, a channel equalizer may compensate signal distortion,which is caused by a reflected wave, so as to recover the originalsignal. In another example, the plurality of transmitters may havedifferent frequencies with respect to the same channel.

A variety of methods may be used for data communication each of thetransmitters, which are located in remote positions, and the servicemultiplexer. For example, an interface standard such as a synchronousserial interface for transport of MPEG-2 data (SMPTE-310M). In theSMPTE-310M interface standard, a constant data rate is decided as anoutput data rate of the service multiplexer. For example, in case of the8 VSB mode, the output data rate is 19.39 Mbps, and, in case of the 16VSB mode, the output data rate is 38.78 Mbps. Furthermore, in theconventional 8 VSB mode transmitting system, a transport stream (TS)packet having a data rate of approximately 19.39 Mbps may be transmittedthrough a single physical channel. Also, in the transmitting systemaccording to the present invention provided with backward compatibilitywith the conventional transmitting system, additional encoding isperformed on the mobile service data. Thereafter, the additionallyencoded mobile service data are multiplexed with the main service datato a TS packet form, which is then transmitted. At this point, the datarate of the multiplexed TS packet is approximately 19.39 Mbps.

At this point, the service multiplexer 100 receives at least one type ofmobile service data and program specific information (PSI)/program andsystem information protocol (PSIP) table data for each mobile serviceand encapsulates the received data to each transport stream (TS) packet.Also, the service multiplexer 100 receives at least one type of mainservice data and PSI/PSIP table data for each main service so as toencapsulate the received data to a TS packet. Subsequently, the TSpackets are multiplexed according to a predetermined multiplexing ruleand outputs the multiplexed packets to the transmitter 200.

Service Multiplexer

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram showing an example of the servicemultiplexer. The service multiplexer includes a controller 110 forcontrolling the overall operations of the service multiplexer, aPSI/PSIP generator 120 for the main service, a PSI/PSIP generator 130for the mobile service, a null packet generator 140, a mobile servicemultiplexer 150, and a transport multiplexer 160. The transportmultiplexer 160 may include a main service multiplexer 161 and atransport stream (TS) packet multiplexer 162. Referring to FIG. 2, atleast one type of compression encoded main service data and the PSI/PSIPtable data generated from the PSI/PSIP generator 120 for the mainservice are inputted to the main service multiplexer 161 of thetransport multiplexer 160. The main service multiplexer 161 encapsulateseach of the inputted main service data and PSI/PSIP table data to MPEG-2TS packet forms. Then, the MPEG-2 TS packets are multiplexed andoutputted to the TS packet multiplexer 162. Herein, the data packetbeing outputted from the main service multiplexer 161 will be referredto as a main service data packet for simplicity.

Thereafter, at least one type of the compression encoded mobile servicedata and the PSI/PSIP table data generated from the PSI/PSIP generator130 for the mobile service are inputted to the mobile servicemultiplexer 150. The mobile service multiplexer 150 encapsulates each ofthe inputted mobile service data and PSI/PSIP table data to MPEG-2 TSpacket forms. Then, the MPEG-2 TS packets are multiplexed and outputtedto the TS packet multiplexer 162. Herein, the data packet beingoutputted from the mobile service multiplexer 150 will be referred to asa mobile service data packet for simplicity. At this point, thetransmitter 200 requires identification information in order to identifyand process the main service data packet and the mobile service datapacket. Herein, the identification information may use valuespre-decided in accordance with an agreement between the transmittingsystem and the receiving system, or may be configured of a separate setof data, or may modify predetermined location value with in thecorresponding data packet. As an example of the present invention, adifferent packet identifier (PID) may be assigned to identify each ofthe main service data packet and the mobile service data packet.

In another example, by modifying a synchronization data byte within aheader of the mobile service data, the service data packet may beidentified by using the synchronization data byte value of thecorresponding service data packet. For example, the synchronization byteof the main service data packet directly outputs the value decided bythe ISO/IEC13818-1 standard (i.e., 0x47) without any modification. Thesynchronization byte of the mobile service data packet modifies andoutputs the value, thereby identifying the main service data packet andthe mobile service data packet. Conversely, the synchronization byte ofthe main service data packet is modified and outputted, whereas thesynchronization byte of the mobile service data packet is directlyoutputted without being modified, thereby enabling the main service datapacket and the mobile service data packet to be identified.

A plurality of methods may be applied in the method of modifying thesynchronization byte. For example, each bit of the synchronization bytemay be inversed, or only a portion of the synchronization byte may beinversed. As described above, any type of identification information maybe used to identify the main service data packet and the mobile servicedata packet. Therefore, the scope of the present invention is notlimited only to the example set forth in the description of the presentinvention.

Meanwhile, a transport multiplexer used in the conventional digitalbroadcasting system may be used as the transport multiplexer 160according to the present invention. More specifically, in order tomultiplex the mobile service data and the main service data and totransmit the multiplexed data, the data rate of the main service islimited to a data rate of (19.39-K) Mbps. Then, K Mbps, whichcorresponds to the remaining data rate, is assigned as the data rate ofthe mobile service. Thus, the transport multiplexer which is alreadybeing used may be used as it is without any modification. Herein, thetransport multiplexer 160 multiplexes the main service data packet beingoutputted from the main service multiplexer 161 and the mobile servicedata packet being outputted from the mobile service multiplexer 150.Thereafter, the transport multiplexer 160 transmits the multiplexed datapackets to the transmitter 200.

However, in some cases, the output data rate of the mobile servicemultiplexer 150 may not be equal to K Mbps. In this case, the mobileservice multiplexer 150 multiplexes and outputs null data packetsgenerated from the null packet generator 140 so that the output datarate can reach K Mbps. More specifically, in order to match the outputdata rate of the mobile service multiplexer 150 to a constant data rate,the null packet generator 140 generates null data packets, which arethen outputted to the mobile service multiplexer 150. For example, whenthe service multiplexer 100 assigns K Mbps of the 19.39 Mbps to themobile service data, and when the remaining (19.39-K) Mbps is,therefore, assigned to the main service data, the data rate of themobile service data that are multiplexed by the service multiplexer 100actually becomes lower than K Mbps. This is because, in case of themobile service data, the pre-processor of the transmitting systemperforms additional encoding, thereby increasing the amount of data.Eventually, the data rate of the mobile service data, which may betransmitted from the service multiplexer 100, becomes smaller than KMbps.

For example, since the pre-processor of the transmitter performs anencoding process on the mobile service data at a coding rate of at least½, the amount of the data outputted from the pre-processor is increasedto more than twice the amount of the data initially inputted to thepre-processor. Therefore, the sum of the data rate of the main servicedata and the data rate of the mobile service data, both beingmultiplexed by the service multiplexer 100, becomes either equal to orsmaller than 19.39 Mbps. Therefore, in order to match the data rate ofthe data that are finally outputted from the service multiplexer 100 toa constant data rate (e.g., 19.39 Mbps), an amount of null data packetscorresponding to the amount of lacking data rate is generated from thenull packet generator 140 and outputted to the mobile servicemultiplexer 150.

Accordingly, the mobile service multiplexer 150 encapsulates each of themobile service data and the PSI/PSIP table data that are being inputtedto a MPEG-2 TS packet form. Then, the above-described TS packets aremultiplexed with the null data packets and, then, outputted to the TSpacket multiplexer 162. Thereafter, the TS packet multiplexer 162multiplexes the main service data packet being outputted from the mainservice multiplexer 161 and the mobile service data packet beingoutputted from the mobile service multiplexer 150 and transmits themultiplexed data packets to the transmitter 200 at a data rate of 19.39Mbps.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the mobile servicemultiplexer 150 receives the null data packets. However, this is merelyexemplary and does not limit the scope of the present invention. Inother words, according to another embodiment of the present invention,the TS packet multiplexer 162 may receive the null data packets, so asto match the data rate of the finally outputted data to a constant datarate. Herein, the output path and multiplexing rule of the null datapacket is controlled by the controller 110. The controller 110 controlsthe multiplexing processed performed by the mobile service multiplexer150, the main service multiplexer 161 of the transport multiplexer 160,and the TS packet multiplexer 162, and also controls the null datapacket generation of the null packet generator 140. At this point, thetransmitter 200 discards the null data packets transmitted from theservice multiplexer 100 instead of transmitting the null data packets.

Further, in order to allow the transmitter 200 to discard the null datapackets transmitted from the service multiplexer 100 instead oftransmitting them, identification information for identifying the nulldata packet is required. Herein, the identification information may usevalues pre-decided in accordance with an agreement between thetransmitting system and the receiving system. For example, the value ofthe synchronization byte within the header of the null data packet maybe modified so as to be used as the identification information.Alternatively, a transport_error_indicator flag may also be used as theidentification information.

In the description of the present invention, an example of using thetransport_error_indicator flag as the identification information will begiven to describe an embodiment of the present invention. In this case,the transport_error_indicator flag of the null data packet is set to‘1’, and the transport_error_indicator flag of the remaining datapackets are reset to ‘0’, so as to identify the null data packet. Morespecifically, when the null packet generator 140 generates the null datapackets, if the transport_error_indicator flag from the header field ofthe null data packet is set to ‘1’ and then transmitted, the null datapacket may be identified and, therefore, be discarded. In the presentinvention, any type of identification information for identifying thenull data packets may be used. Therefore, the scope of the presentinvention is not limited only to the examples set forth in thedescription of the present invention.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a transmissionparameter may be included in at least a portion of the null data packet,or at least one table or an operations and maintenance (OM) packet (orOMP) of the PSI/PSIP table for the mobile service. In this case, thetransmitter 200 extracts the transmission parameter and outputs theextracted transmission parameter to the corresponding block and alsotransmits the extracted parameter to the receiving system if required.More specifically, a packet referred to as an OMP is defined for thepurpose of operating and managing the transmitting system. For example,the OMP is configured in accordance with the MPEG-2 TS packet format,and the corresponding PID is given the value of 0x1FFA. The OMP isconfigured of a 4-byte header and a 184-byte payload. Herein, among the184 bytes, the first byte corresponds to an OM_type field, whichindicates the type of the OM packet.

In the present invention, the transmission parameter may be transmittedin the form of an OMP. And, in this case, among the values of thereserved fields within the OM_type field, a pre-arranged value is used,thereby indicating that the transmission parameter is being transmittedto the transmitter 200 in the form of an OMP. More specifically, thetransmitter 200 may find (or identify) the OMP by referring to the PID.Also, by parsing the OM_type field within the OMP, the transmitter 200can verify whether a transmission parameter is included after theOM_type field of the corresponding packet. The transmission parametercorresponds to supplemental data required for processing mobile servicedata from the transmitting system and the receiving system.

Herein, the transmission parameter may include data group information,region information within the data group, RS frame information, superframe information, burst information, turbo code information, and RScode information. The burst information may include burst sizeinformation, burst period information, and time information to nextburst. The burst period signifies the period at which the bursttransmitting the same mobile service is repeated. The data groupincludes a plurality of mobile service data packets, and a plurality ofsuch data groups is gathered (or grouped) to form a burst. A burstsection signifies the beginning of a current burst to the beginning of anext burst. Herein, the burst section is classified as a section thatincludes the data group (also referred to as a burst-on section), and asection that does not include the data group (also referred to as aburst-off section). A burst-on section is configured of a plurality offields, wherein one field includes one data group.

The transmission parameter may also include information on how signalsof a symbol domain are encoded in order to transmit the mobile servicedata, and multiplexing information on how the main service data and themobile service data or various types of mobile service data aremultiplexed. The information included in the transmission parameter ismerely exemplary to facilitate the understanding of the presentinvention. And, the adding and deleting of the information included inthe transmission parameter may be easily modified and changed by anyoneskilled in the art. Therefore, the present invention is not limited tothe examples proposed in the description set forth herein. Furthermore,the transmission parameters may be provided from the service multiplexer100 to the transmitter 200. Alternatively, the transmission parametersmay also be set up by an internal controller (not shown) within thetransmitter 200 or received from an external source.

Transmitter

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram showing an example of the transmitter200 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Herein, thetransmitter 200 includes a demultiplexer 210, a packet jitter mitigator220, a pre-processor 230, a packet multiplexer 240, a post-processor250, a synchronization (sync) multiplexer 260, and a transmission unit270. Herein, when a data packet is received from the service multiplexer100, the demultiplexer 210 should identify whether the received datapacket corresponds to a main service data packet, a mobile service datapacket, or a null data packet. For example, the demultiplexer 210 usesthe PID within the received data packet so as to identify the mainservice data packet and the mobile service data packet. Then, thedemultiplexer 210 uses a transport_error_indicator field to identify thenull data packet. The main service data packet identified by thedemultiplexer 210 is outputted to the packet jitter mitigator 220, themobile service data packet is outputted to the pre-processor 230, andthe null data packet is discarded. If a transmission parameter isincluded in the null data packet, then the transmission parameter isfirst extracted and outputted to the corresponding block. Thereafter,the null data packet is discarded.

The pre-processor 230 performs an additional encoding process of themobile service data included in the service data packet, which isdemultiplexed and outputted from the demultiplexer 210. Thepre-processor 230 also performs a process of configuring a data group sothat the data group may be positioned at a specific place in accordancewith the purpose of the data, which are to be transmitted on atransmission frame. This is to enable the mobile service data to respondswiftly and strongly against noise and channel changes. Thepre-processor 230 may also refer to the transmission parameter whenperforming the additional encoding process. Also, the pre-processor 230groups a plurality of mobile service data packets to configure a datagroup. Thereafter, known data, mobile service data, RS parity data, andMPEG header are allocated to pre-determined areas within the data group.

Pre-Processor within Transmitter

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram showing an example of thepre-processor 230 according to the present invention. The pre-processor230 includes a data randomizer 301, a RS frame encoder 302, a blockprocessor 303, a group formatter 304, a data deinterleaver 305, a packetformatter 306. The data randomizer 301 within the above-describedpre-processor 230 randomizes the mobile service data packet includingthe mobile service data that is inputted through the demultiplexer 210.Then, the data randomizer 301 outputs the randomized mobile service datapacket to the RS frame encoder 302. At this point, since the datarandomizer 301 performs the randomizing process on the mobile servicedata, the randomizing process that is to be performed by the datarandomizer 251 of the post-processor 250 on the mobile service data maybe omitted. The data randomizer 301 may also discard the synchronizationbyte within the mobile service data packet and perform the randomizingprocess. This is an option that may be chosen by the system designer. Inthe example given in the present invention, the randomizing process isperformed without discarding the synchronization byte within the mobileservice data packet.

The RS frame encoder 302 groups a plurality of mobile thesynchronization byte within the mobile service data packets that israndomized and inputted, so as to create a RS frame. Then, the RS frameencoder 302 performs at least one of an error correction encodingprocess and an error detection encoding process in RS frame units.Accordingly, robustness may be provided to the mobile service data,thereby scattering group error that may occur during changes in afrequency environment, thereby enabling the enhanced data to respond tothe frequency environment, which is extremely vulnerable and liable tofrequent changes. Also, the RS frame encoder 302 groups a plurality ofRS frame so as to create a super frame, thereby performing a rowpermutation process in super frame units. The row permutation processmay also be referred to as a row interleaving process. Hereinafter, theprocess will be referred to as row permutation for simplicity.

More specifically, when the RS frame encoder 302 performs the process ofpermuting each row of the super frame in accordance with apre-determined rule, the position of the rows within the super framebefore and after the row permutation process is changed. If the rowpermutation process is performed by super frame units, and even thoughthe section having a plurality of errors occurring therein becomes verylong, and even though the number of errors included in the RS frame,which is to be decoded, exceeds the extent of being able to becorrected, the errors become dispersed within the entire super frame.Thus, the decoding ability is even more enhanced as compared to a singleRS frame.

At this point, as an example of the present invention, RS-encoding isapplied for the error correction encoding process, and a cyclicredundancy check (CRC) encoding is applied for the error detectionprocess. When performing the RS-encoding, parity data that are used forthe error correction are generated. And, when performing the CRCencoding, CRC data that are used for the error detection are generated.The RS encoding is one of forward error correction (FEC) methods. TheFEC corresponds to a technique for compensating errors that occur duringthe transmission process. The CRC data generated by CRC encoding may beused for indicating whether or not the mobile service data have beendamaged by the errors while being transmitted through the channel. Inthe present invention, a variety of error detection coding methods otherthan the CRC encoding method may be used, or the error correction codingmethod may be used to enhance the overall error correction ability ofthe receiving system. Herein, the RS frame encoder 302 refers to apre-determined transmission parameter and/or the transmission parameterprovided from the service multiplexer 100 so as to perform operationsincluding RS frame configuration, RS encoding, CRC encoding, super frameconfiguration, and row permutation in super frame units.

Pre-Processor within RS Frame Encoder

FIG. 5( a) to FIG. 5( e) illustrate error correction encoding and errordetection encoding processed according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. More specifically, the RS frame encoder 302 first divides theinputted mobile service data bytes to units of a predetermined length.The predetermined length is decided by the system designer. And, in theexample of the present invention, the predetermined length is equal to187 bytes, and, therefore, the 187-byte unit will be referred to as apacket for simplicity. For example, when the mobile service data thatare being inputted, as shown in FIG. 5( a), correspond to a MPEGtransport packet stream configured of 188-byte units, the firstsynchronization byte is removed, as shown in FIG. 5( b), so as toconfigure a 187-byte unit. Herein, the synchronization byte is removedbecause each mobile service data packet has the same value.

Herein, the process of removing the synchronization byte may beperformed during a randomizing process of the data randomizer 301 in anearlier process. In this case, the process of the removing thesynchronization byte by the RS frame encoder 302 may be omitted.Moreover, when adding synchronization bytes from the receiving system,the process may be performed by the data derandomizer instead of the RSframe decoder. Therefore, if a removable fixed byte (e.g.,synchronization byte) does not exist within the mobile service datapacket that is being inputted to the RS frame encoder 302, or if themobile service data that are being inputted are not configured in apacket format, the mobile service data that are being inputted aredivided into 187-byte units, thereby configuring a packet for each187-byte unit.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 5( c), N number of packets configured of187 bytes is grouped to configure a RS frame. At this point, the RSframe is configured as a RS frame having the size of N(row)*187(column)bytes, in which 187-byte packets are sequentially inputted in a rowdirection. In order to simplify the description of the presentinvention, the RS frame configured as described above will also bereferred to as a first RS frame. More specifically, only pure mobileservice data are included in the first RS frame, which is the same asthe structure configured of 187 N-byte rows. Thereafter, the mobileservice data within the RS frame are divided into an equal size. Then,when the divided mobile service data are transmitted in the same orderas the input order for configuring the RS frame, and when one or moreerrors have occurred at a particular point during thetransmitting/receiving process, the errors are clustered (or gathered)within the RS frame as well. In this case, the receiving system uses aRS erasure decoding method when performing error correction decoding,thereby enhancing the error correction ability. At this point, the Nnumber of columns within the N number of RS frame includes 187 bytes, asshown in FIG. 5( c).

In this case, a (Nc,Kc)-RS encoding process is performed on each column,so as to generate Nc−Kc(=P) number of parity bytes. Then, the newlygenerated P number of parity bytes is added after the very last byte ofthe corresponding column, thereby creating a column of (187+P) bytes.Herein, as shown in FIG. 5( c), Kc is equal to 187 (i.e., Kc=187), andNc is equal to 187+P (i.e., Nc=187+P). For example, when P is equal to48, (235,187)-RS encoding process is performed so as to create a columnof 235 bytes. When such RS encoding process is performed on all N numberof columns, as shown in FIG. 5( c), a RS frame having the size ofN(row)*(187+P)(column) bytes may be created, as shown in FIG. 5( d). Inorder to simplify the description of the present invention, the RS framehaving the RS parity inserted therein will be referred to as s second RSframe. More specifically, the second RS frame having the structure of(187+P) rows configured of N bytes may be configured.

As shown in FIG. 5( c) or FIG. 5( d), each row of the RS frame isconfigured of N bytes. However, depending upon channel conditionsbetween the transmitting system and the receiving system, error may beincluded in the RS frame. When errors occur as described above, CRC data(or CRC code or CRC checksum) may be used on each row unit in order toverify whether error exists in each row unit. The RS frame encoder 302may perform CRC encoding on the mobile service data being RS encoded soas to create (or generate) the CRC data. The CRC data being generated byCRC encoding may be used to indicate whether the mobile service datahave been damaged while being transmitted through the channel.

The present invention may also use different error detection encodingmethods other than the CRC encoding method. Alternatively, the presentinvention may use the error correction encoding method to enhance theoverall error correction ability of the receiving system. FIG. 5( e)illustrates an example of using a 2-byte (i.e., 16-bit) CRC checksum asthe CRC data. Herein, a 2-byte CRC checksum is generated for N number ofbytes of each row, thereby adding the 2-byte CRC checksum at the end ofthe N number of bytes. Thus, each row is expanded to (N+2) number ofbytes. Equation 1 below corresponds to an exemplary equation forgenerating a 2-byte CRC checksum for each row being configured of Nnumber of bytes.g(x)=x ¹⁶ +x ¹² +x ⁵+1  Equation 1

The process of adding a 2-byte checksum in each row is only exemplary.Therefore, the present invention is not limited only to the exampleproposed in the description set forth herein. In order to simplify theunderstanding of the present invention, the RS frame having the RSparity and CRC checksum added therein will hereinafter be referred to asa third RS frame. More specifically, the third RS frame corresponds to(187+P) number of rows each configured of (N+2) number of bytes. Asdescribed above, when the process of RS encoding and CRC encoding arecompleted, the (N*187)-byte RS frame is expanded to a (N+2)(187+P)-byteRS frame. Furthermore, the RS frame that is expanded, as shown in FIG.5( e), is inputted to the block processor 303.

As described above, the mobile service data encoded by the RS frameencoder 302 are inputted to the block processor 303. The block processor303 then encodes the inputted mobile service data at a coding rate ofG/H (wherein, G is smaller than H (i.e., G<H)) and then outputted to thegroup formatter 304. More specifically, the block processor 303 dividesthe mobile service data being inputted in byte units into bit units.Then, the G number of bits is encoded to H number of bits. Thereafter,the encoded bits are converted back to byte units and then outputted.For example, if 1 bit of the input data is coded to 2 bits andoutputted, then G is equal to 1 and H is equal to 2 (i.e., G=1 and H=2).Alternatively, if 1 bit of the input data is coded to 4 bits andoutputted, then G is equal to 1 and H is equal to 4 (i.e., G=1 and H=4).Hereinafter, the former coding rate will be referred to as a coding rateof ½ (½-rate coding), and the latter coding rate will be referred to asa coding rate of ¼ (¼-rate coding), for simplicity.

Herein, when using the ¼ coding rate, the coding efficiency is greaterthan when using the ½ coding rate, and may, therefore, provide greaterand enhanced error correction ability. For such reason, when it isassumed that the data encoded at a ¼ coding rate in the group formatter304, which is located near the end portion of the system, are allocatedto an area in which the receiving performance may be deteriorated, andthat the data encoded at a ½ coding rate are allocated to an area havingexcellent receiving performance, the difference in performance may bereduced. At this point, the block processor 303 may also receivesignaling information including transmission parameters. Herein, thesignaling information may also be processed with either ½-rate coding or¼-rate coding as in the step of processing mobile service data.Thereafter, the signaling information is also considered the same as themobile service data and processed accordingly.

Meanwhile, the group formatter inserts mobile service data that areoutputted from the block processor 303 in corresponding areas within adata group, which is configured in accordance with a pre-defined rule.Also, with respect to the data deinterleaving process, each place holderor known data (or known data place holders) are also inserted incorresponding areas within the data group. At this point, the data groupmay be divided into at least one hierarchical area. Herein, the type ofmobile service data being inserted in each area may vary depending uponthe characteristics of each hierarchical area. Additionally, each areamay, for example, be divided based upon the receiving performance withinthe data group. Furthermore, one data group may be configured to includea set of field synchronization data.

In an example given in the present invention, a data group is dividedinto A, B, and C regions in a data configuration prior to datadeinterleaving. At this point, the group formatter 304 allocates themobile service data, which are inputted after being RS encoded and blockencoded, to each of the corresponding regions by referring to thetransmission parameter. FIG. 6A illustrates an alignment of data afterbeing data interleaved and identified, and FIG. 6B illustrates analignment of data before being data interleaved and identified. Morespecifically, a data structure identical to that shown in FIG. 6A istransmitted to a receiving system. Also, the data group configured tohave the same structure as the data structure shown in FIG. 6A isinputted to the data deinterleaver 305.

As described above, FIG. 6A illustrates a data structure prior to datadeinterleaving that is divided into 3 regions, such as region A, regionB, and region C. Also, in the present invention, each of the regions Ato C is further divided into a plurality of regions. Referring to FIG.6A, region A is divided into 5 regions (A1 to A5), region B is dividedinto 2 regions (B1 and B2), and region C is divided into 3 regions (C1to C3). Herein, regions A to C are identified as regions having similarreceiving performances within the data group. Herein, the type of mobileservice data, which are inputted, may also vary depending upon thecharacteristic of each region.

In the example of the present invention, the data structure is dividedinto regions A to C based upon the level of interference of the mainservice data. Herein, the data group is divided into a plurality ofregions to be used for different purposes. More specifically, a regionof the main service data having no interference or a very lowinterference level may be considered to have a more resistant (orstronger) receiving performance as compared to regions having higherinterference levels. Additionally, when using a system inserting andtransmitting known data in the data group, and when consecutively longknown data are to be periodically inserted in the mobile service data,the known data having a predetermined length may be periodicallyinserted in the region having no interference from the main service data(e.g., region A). However, due to interference from the main servicedata, it is difficult to periodically insert known data and also toinsert consecutively long known data to a region having interferencefrom the main service data (e.g., region B and region C).

Hereinafter, examples of allocating data to region A (A1 to A5), regionB (B1 and B2), and region C (C1 to C3) will now be described in detailwith reference to FIG. 6A. The data group size, the number ofhierarchically divided regions within the data group and the size ofeach region, and the number of mobile service data bytes that can beinserted in each hierarchically divided region of FIG. 6A are merelyexamples given to facilitate the understanding of the present invention.Herein, the group formatter 304 creates a data group including places inwhich field synchronization data bytes are to be inserted, so as tocreate the data group that will hereinafter be described in detail.

More specifically, region A is a region within the data group in which along known data sequence may be periodically inserted, and in whichincludes regions wherein the main service data are not mixed (e.g., A1to A5). Also, region A includes a region (e.g., A1) located between afield synchronization region and the region in which the first knowndata sequence is to be inserted. The field synchronization region hasthe length of one segment (i.e., 832 symbols) existing in an ATSCsystem.

For example, referring to FIG. 6A, 2428 bytes of the mobile service datamay be inserted in region A1, 2580 bytes may be inserted in region A2,2772 bytes may be inserted in region A3, 2472 bytes may be inserted inregion A4, and 2772 bytes may be inserted in region A5. Herein, trellisinitialization data or known data, MPEG header, and RS parity are notincluded in the mobile service data. As described above, when region Aincludes a known data sequence at both ends, the receiving system useschannel information that can obtain known data or field synchronizationdata, so as to perform equalization, thereby providing enforcedequalization performance.

Also, region B includes a region located within 8 segments at thebeginning of a field synchronization region within the data group(chronologically placed before region A1) (e.g., region B1), and aregion located within 8 segments behind the very last known datasequence which is inserted in the data group (e.g., region B2). Forexample, 930 bytes of the mobile service data may be inserted in theregion B1, and 1350 bytes may be inserted in region B2. Similarly,trellis initialization data or known data, MPEG header, and RS parityare not included in the mobile service data. In case of region B, thereceiving system may perform equalization by using channel informationobtained from the field synchronization region. Alternatively, thereceiving system may also perform equalization by using channelinformation that may be obtained from the last known data sequence,thereby enabling the system to respond to the channel changes.

Region C includes a region located within 30 segments including andpreceding the 9^(th) segment of the field synchronization region(chronologically located before region A) (e.g., region C1), a regionlocated within 12 segments including and following the 9^(th) segment ofthe very last known data sequence within the data group (chronologicallylocated after region A) (e.g., region C2), and a region located in 32segments after the region C2 (e.g., region C3). For example, 1272 bytesof the mobile service data may be inserted in the region C1, 1560 bytesmay be inserted in region C2, and 1312 bytes may be inserted in regionC3. Similarly, trellis initialization data or known data, MPEG header,and RS parity are not included in the mobile service data. Herein,region C (e.g., region C1) is located chronologically earlier than (orbefore) region A.

Since region C (e.g., region C1) is located further apart from the fieldsynchronization region which corresponds to the closest known dataregion, the receiving system may use the channel information obtainedfrom the field synchronization data when performing channelequalization. Alternatively, the receiving system may also use the mostrecent channel information of a previous data group. Furthermore, inregion C (e.g., region C2 and region C3) located before region A, thereceiving system may use the channel information obtained from the lastknown data sequence to perform equalization. However, when the channelsare subject to fast and frequent changes, the equalization may not beperformed perfectly. Therefore, the equalization performance of region Cmay be deteriorated as compared to that of region B.

When it is assumed that the data group is allocated with a plurality ofhierarchically divided regions, as described above, the block processor303 may encode the mobile service data, which are to be inserted to eachregion based upon the characteristic of each hierarchical region, at adifferent coding rate. For example, the block processor 303 may encodethe mobile service data, which are to be inserted in regions A1 to A5 ofregion A, at a coding rate of ½. Then, the group formatter 304 mayinsert the ½-rate encoded mobile service data to regions A1 to A5.

The block processor 303 may encode the mobile service data, which are tobe inserted in regions B1 and B2 of region B, at a coding rate of ¼having higher error correction ability as compared to the ½-coding rate.Then, the group formatter 304 inserts the ¼-rate coded mobile servicedata in region B1 and region B2. Furthermore, the block processor 303may encode the mobile service data, which are to be inserted in regionsC1 to C3 of region C, at a coding rate of ¼ or a coding rate havinghigher error correction ability than the ¼-coding rate. Then, the groupformatter 304 may either insert the encoded mobile service data toregions C1 to C3, as described above, or leave the data in a reservedregion for future usage.

In addition, the group formatter 304 also inserts supplemental data,such as signaling information that notifies the overall transmissioninformation, other than the mobile service data in the data group. Also,apart from the encoded mobile service data outputted from the blockprocessor 303, the group formatter 304 also inserts MPEG header placeholders, non-systematic RS parity place holders, main service data placeholders, which are related to data deinterleaving in a later process, asshown in FIG. 6A. Herein, the main service data place holders areinserted because the mobile service data bytes and the main service databytes are alternately mixed with one another in regions B and C basedupon the input of the data deinterleaver, as shown in FIG. 6A. Forexample, based upon the data outputted after data deinterleaving, theplace holder for the MPEG header may be allocated at the very beginningof each packet.

Furthermore, the group formatter 304 either inserts known data generatedin accordance with a pre-determined method or inserts known data placeholders for inserting the known data in a later process. Additionally,place holders for initializing the trellis encoding module 256 are alsoinserted in the corresponding regions. For example, the initializationdata place holders may be inserted in the beginning of the known datasequence. Herein, the size of the mobile service data that can beinserted in a data group may vary in accordance with the sizes of thetrellis initialization place holders or known data (or known data placeholders), MPEG header place holders, and RS parity place holders.

The output of the group formatter 304 is inputted to the datadeinterleaver 305. And, the data deinterleaver 305 deinterleaves data byperforming an inverse process of the data interleaver on the data andplace holders within the data group, which are then outputted to thepacket formatter 306. More specifically, when the data and place holderswithin the data group configured, as shown in FIG. 6A, are deinterleavedby the data deinterleaver 305, the data group being outputted to thepacket formatter 306 is configured to have the structure shown in FIG.6B.

The packet formatter 306 removes the main service data place holders andthe RS parity place holders that were allocated for the deinterleavingprocess from the deinterleaved data being inputted. Then, the packetformatter 306 groups the remaining portion and replaces the 4-byte MPEGheader place holder with an MPEG header having a null packet PID (or anunused PID from the main service data packet). Also, when the groupformatter 304 inserts known data place holders, the packet formatter 306may insert actual known data in the known data place holders, or maydirectly output the known data place holders without any modification inorder to make replacement insertion in a later process. Thereafter, thepacket formatter 306 identifies the data within the packet-formatteddata group, as described above, as a 188-byte unit mobile service datapacket (i.e., MPEG TS packet), which is then provided to the packetmultiplexer 240.

The packet multiplexer 240 multiplexes the mobile service data packetoutputted from the pre-processor 230 and the main service data packetoutputted from the packet jitter mitigator 220 in accordance with apre-defined multiplexing method. Then, the packet multiplexer 240outputs the multiplexed data packets to the data randomizer 251 of thepost-processor 250. Herein, the multiplexing method may vary inaccordance with various variables of the system design. One of themultiplexing methods of the packet formatter 240 consists of providing aburst section along a time axis, and, then, transmitting a plurality ofdata groups during a burst-on section within the burst section, andtransmitting only the main service data during the burst-off sectionwithin the burst section. Herein, the burst section indicates thesection starting from the beginning of the current burst until thebeginning of the next burst.

At this point, the main service data may be transmitted during theburst-on section. The packet multiplexer 240 refers to the transmissionparameter, such as information on the burst size or the burst period, soas to be informed of the number of data groups and the period of thedata groups included in a single burst. Herein, the mobile service dataand the main service data may co-exist in the burst-on section, and onlythe main service data may exist in the burst-off section. Therefore, amain data service section transmitting the main service data may existin both burst-on and burst-off sections. At this point, the main dataservice section within the burst-on section and the number of main dataservice packets included in the burst-off section may either bedifferent from one another or be the same.

When the mobile service data are transmitted in a burst structure, inthe receiving system receiving only the mobile service data turns thepower on only during the burst section, thereby receiving thecorresponding data. Alternatively, in the section transmitting only themain service data, the power is turned off so that the main service dataare not received in this section. Thus, the power consumption of thereceiving system may be reduced.

Detailed Embodiments of the RS Frame Structure and Packet Multiplexing

Hereinafter, detailed embodiments of the pre-processor 230 and thepacket multiplexer 240 will now be described. According to an embodimentof the present invention, the N value corresponding to the length of arow, which is included in the RS frame that is configured by the RSframe encoder 302, is set to 538. Accordingly, the RS frame encoder 302receives 538 transport stream (TS) packets so as to configure a first RSframe having the size of 538*187 bytes. Thereafter, as described above,the first RS frame is processed with a (235,187)-RS encoding process soas to configure a second RS frame having the size of 538*235 bytes.Finally, the second RS frame is processed with generating a 16-bitchecksum so as to configure a third RS frame having the sizes of540*235.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 6A, the sum of the number of bytes ofregions A1 to A5 of region A, in which ½-rate encoded mobile servicedata are to be inserted, among the plurality of regions within the datagroup is equal to 13024 bytes (=2428+2580+2772+2472+2772 bytes). Herein,the number of byte prior to performing the ½-rate encoding process isequal to 6512 (=13024/2). On the other hand, the sum of the number ofbytes of regions B1 and B2 of region B, in which ¼-rate encoded mobileservice data are to be inserted, among the plurality of regions withinthe data group is equal to 2280 bytes (=930+1350 bytes). Herein, thenumber of byte prior to performing the ¼-rate encoding process is equalto 570 (=2280/4).

In other words, when 7082 bytes of mobile service data are inputted tothe block processor 303, 6512 byte are expanded to 13024 bytes by being½-rate encoded, and 570 bytes are expanded to 2280 bytes by being ¼-rateencoded. Thereafter, the block processor 303 inserts the mobile servicedata expanded to 13024 bytes in regions A1 to A5 of region A and, also,inserts the mobile service data expanded to 2280 bytes in regions B1 andB2 of region B. Herein, the 7082 bytes of mobile service data beinginputted to the block processor 303 may be divided into an output of theRS frame encoder 302 and signaling information. In the presentinvention, among the 7082 bytes of mobile service data, 7050 bytescorrespond to the output of the RS frame encoder 302, and the remaining32 bytes correspond to the signaling information data. Then, ½-rateencoding or ¼-rate encoding is performed on the corresponding databytes.

Meanwhile, a RS frame being processed with RS encoding and CRC encodingfrom the RS frame encoder 302 is configured of 540*235 bytes, in otherwords, 126900 bytes. The 126900 bytes are divided by 7050-byte unitsalong the time axis, so as to produce 18 7050-byte units. Thereafter, a32-byte unit of signaling information data is added to the 7050-byteunit mobile service data being outputted from the RS frame encoder 302.Subsequently, the RS frame encoder 302 performs ½-rate encoding or¼-rate encoding on the corresponding data bytes, which are thenoutputted to the group formatter 304. Accordingly, the group formatter304 inserts the ½-rate encoded data in region A and the ¼-rate encodeddata in region B.

The process of deciding an N value that is required for configuring theRS frame from the RS frame encoder 302 will now be described in detail.More specifically, the size of the final RS frame (i.e., the third RSframe), which is RS encoded and CRC encoded from the RS frame encoder302, which corresponds to (N+2)235 bytes should be allocated to X numberof groups, wherein X is an integer. Herein, in a single data group, 7050data bytes prior to being encoded are allocated. Therefore, if the(N+2)235 bytes are set to be the exact multiple of 7050 (=30*235), theoutput data of the RS frame encoder 302 may be efficiently allocated tothe data group. According to an embodiment of the present invention, thevalue of N is decided so that (N+2) becomes a multiple of 30. Forexample, in the present invention, N is equal to 538, and (N=2)(=540)divided by 30 is equal to 18. This indicates that the mobile servicedata within one RS frame are processed with either ½-rate encoding or¼-rate encoding. The encoded mobile service data are then allocated to18 data groups.

FIG. 7 illustrates a process of dividing the RS frame according to thepresent invention. More specifically, the RS frame having the size of(N+2)235 is divided into 30*235 byte blocks. Then, the divided blocksare mapped to a single group. In other words, the data of a block havingthe size of 30*235 bytes are processed with one of a ½-rate encodingprocess and a ¼-rate encoding process and are, then, inserted in a datagroup. Thereafter, the data group having corresponding data and placeholders inserted in each hierarchical region divided by the groupformatter 304 passes through the data deinterleaver 305 and the packetformatter 306 so as to be inputted to the packet multiplexer 240.

FIG. 8 illustrates exemplary operations of a packet multiplexer fortransmitting the data group according to the present invention. Morespecifically, the packet multiplexer 240 multiplexes a field including adata group, in which the mobile service data and main service data aremixed with one another, and a field including only the main servicedata. Thereafter, the packet multiplexer 240 outputs the multiplexedfields to the data randomizer 251. At this point, in order to transmitthe RS frame having the size of 540*235 bytes, 18 data groups should betransmitted. Herein, each data group includes field synchronizationdata, as shown in FIG. 6A. Therefore, the 18 data groups are transmittedduring 18 field sections, and the section during which the 18 datagroups are being transmitted corresponds to the burst-on section.

In each field within the burst-on section, a data group including fieldsynchronization data is multiplexed with main service data, which arethen outputted. For example, in the embodiment of the present invention,in each field within the burst-on section, a data group having the sizeof 118 segments is multiplexed with a set of main service data havingthe size of 194 segments. Referring to FIG. 8, during the burst-onsection (i.e., during the 18 field sections), a field including 18 datagroups is transmitted. Then, during the burst-off section that follows(i.e., during the 12 field sections), a field consisting only of themain service data is transmitted. Subsequently, during a subsequentburst-on section, 18 fields including 18 data groups are transmitted.And, during the following burst-off section, 12 fields consisting onlyof the main service data are transmitted.

Furthermore, in the present invention, the same type of data service maybe provided in the first burst-on section including the first 18 datagroups and in the second burst-on section including the next 18 datagroups. Alternatively, different types of data service may be providedin each burst-on section. For example, when it is assumed that differentdata service types are provided to each of the first burst-on sectionand the second burst-on section, and that the receiving system wishes toreceive only one type of data service, the receiving system turns thepower on only during the corresponding burst-on section including thedesired data service type so as to receive the corresponding 18 datafields. Then, the receiving system turns the power off during theremaining 42 field sections so as to prevent other data service typesfrom being received. Thus, the amount of power consumption of thereceiving system may be reduced. In addition, the receiving systemaccording to the present invention is advantageous in that one RS framemay be configured from the 18 data groups that are received during asingle burst-on section.

According to the present invention, the number of data groups includedin a burst-on section may vary based upon the size of the RS frame, andthe size of the RS frame varies in accordance with the value N. Morespecifically, by adjusting the value N, the number of data groups withinthe burst section may be adjusted. Herein, in an example of the presentinvention, the (235,187)-RS encoding process adjusts the value N duringa fixed state. Furthermore, the size of the mobile service data that canbe inserted in the data group may vary based upon the sizes of thetrellis initialization data or known data, the MPEG header, and the RSparity, which are inserted in the corresponding data group.

Meanwhile, since a data group including mobile service data in-betweenthe data bytes of the main service data during the packet multiplexingprocess, the shifting of the chronological position (or place) of themain service data packet becomes relative. Also, a system object decoder(i.e., MPEG decoder) for processing the main service data of thereceiving system, receives and decodes only the main service data andrecognizes the mobile service data packet as a null data packet.Therefore, when the system object decoder of the receiving systemreceives a main service data packet that is multiplexed with the datagroup, a packet jitter occurs.

At this point, since a multiple-level buffer for the video data existsin the system object decoder and the size of the buffer is relativelylarge, the packet jitter generated from the packet multiplexer 240 doesnot cause any serious problem in case of the video data. However, sincethe size of the buffer for the audio data is relatively small, thepacket jitter may cause considerable problem. More specifically, due tothe packet jitter, an overflow or underflow may occur in the buffer forthe main service data of the receiving system (e.g., the buffer for theaudio data). Therefore, the packet jitter mitigator 220 re-adjusts therelative position of the main service data packet so that the overflowor underflow does not occur in the system object decoder.

In the present invention, examples of repositioning places for the audiodata packets within the main service data in order to minimize theinfluence on the operations of the audio buffer will be described indetail. The packet jitter mitigator 220 repositions the audio datapackets in the main service data section so that the audio data packetsof the main service data can be as equally and uniformly aligned andpositioned as possible. The standard for repositioning the audio datapackets in the main service data performed by the packet jittermitigator 220 will now be described. Herein, it is assumed that thepacket jitter mitigator 220 knows the same multiplexing information asthat of the packet multiplexer 240, which is placed further behind thepacket jitter mitigator 220.

Firstly, if one audio data packet exists in the main service datasection (e.g., the main service data section positioned between two datagroups) within the burst-on section, the audio data packet is positionedat the very beginning of the main service data section. Alternatively,if two audio data packets exist in the corresponding data section, oneaudio data packet is positioned at the very beginning and the otheraudio data packet is positioned at the very end of the main service datasection. Further, if more than three audio data packets exist, one audiodata packet is positioned at the very beginning of the main service datasection, another is positioned at the very end of the main service datasection, and the remaining audio data packets are equally positionedbetween the first and last audio data packets. Secondly, during the mainservice data section placed immediately before the beginning of aburst-on section (i.e., during a burst-off section), the audio datapacket is placed at the very end of the corresponding section.

Thirdly, during a main service data section within the burst-off sectionafter the burst-on section, the audio data packet is positioned at thevery end of the main service data section. Finally, the data packetsother than audio data packets are positioned in accordance with theinputted order in vacant spaces (i.e., spaces that are not designatedfor the audio data packets). Meanwhile, when the positions of the mainservice data packets are relatively re-adjusted, associated programclock reference (PCR) values may also be modified accordingly. The PCRvalue corresponds to a time reference value for synchronizing the timeof the MPEG decoder. Herein, the PCR value is inserted in a specificregion of a TS packet and then transmitted.

In the example of the present invention, the packet jitter mitigator 220also performs the operation of modifying the PCR value. The output ofthe packet jitter mitigator 220 is inputted to the packet multiplexer240. As described above, the packet multiplexer 240 multiplexes the mainservice data packet outputted from the packet jitter mitigator 220 withthe mobile service data packet outputted from the pre-processor 230 intoa burst structure in accordance with a pre-determined multiplexing rule.Then, the packet multiplexer 240 outputs the multiplexed data packets tothe data randomizer 251 of the post-processor 250.

If the inputted data correspond to the main service data packet, thedata randomizer 251 performs the same randomizing process as that of theconventional randomizer. More specifically, the synchronization bytewithin the main service data packet is deleted. Then, the remaining 187data bytes are randomized by using a pseudo random byte generated fromthe data randomizer 251. Thereafter, the randomized data are outputtedto the RS encoder/non-systematic RS encoder 252.

On the other hand, if the inputted data correspond to the mobile servicedata packet, the data randomizer 251 may randomize only a portion of thedata packet. For example, if it is assumed that a randomizing processhas already been performed in advance on the mobile service data packetby the pre-processor 230, the data randomizer 251 deletes thesynchronization byte from the 4-byte MPEG header included in the mobileservice data packet and, then, performs the randomizing process only onthe remaining 3 data bytes of the MPEG header. Thereafter, therandomized data bytes are outputted to the RS encoder/non-systematic RSencoder 252. More specifically, the randomizing process is not performedon the remaining portion of the mobile service data excluding the MPEGheader. In other words, the remaining portion of the mobile service datapacket is directly outputted to the RS encoder/non-systematic RS encoder252 without being randomized. Also, the data randomizer 251 may or maynot perform a randomizing process on the known data (or known data placeholders) and the initialization data place holders included in themobile service data packet.

The RS encoder/non-systematic RS encoder 252 performs an RS encodingprocess on the data being randomized by the data randomizer 251 or onthe data bypassing the data randomizer 251, so as to add 20 bytes of RSparity data. Thereafter, the processed data are outputted to the datainterleaver 253. Herein, if the inputted data correspond to the mainservice data packet, the RS encoder/non-systematic RS encoder 252performs the same systematic RS encoding process as that of theconventional broadcasting system, thereby adding the 20-byte RS paritydata at the end of the 187-byte data. Alternatively, if the inputteddata correspond to the mobile service data packet, the RSencoder/non-systematic RS encoder 252 performs a non-systematic RSencoding process. At this point, the 20-byte RS parity data obtainedfrom the non-systematic RS encoding process are inserted in apre-decided parity byte place within the mobile service data packet.

The data interleaver 253 corresponds to a byte unit convolutionalinterleaver. The output of the data interleaver 253 is inputted to theparity replacer 254 and to the non-systematic RS encoder 255. Meanwhile,a process of initializing a memory within the trellis encoding module256 is primarily required in order to decide the output data of thetrellis encoding module 256, which is located after the parity replacer254, as the known data pre-defined according to an agreement between thereceiving system and the transmitting system. More specifically, thememory of the trellis encoding module 256 should first be initializedbefore the received known data sequence is trellis-encoded. At thispoint, the beginning portion of the known data sequence that is receivedcorresponds to the initialization data place holder and not to theactual known data. Herein, the initialization data place holder has beenincluded in the data by the group formatter within the pre-processor 230in an earlier process. Therefore, the process of generatinginitialization data and replacing the initialization data place holderof the corresponding memory with the generated initialization data arerequired to be performed immediately before the inputted known datasequence is trellis-encoded.

Additionally, a value of the trellis memory initialization data isdecided and generated based upon a memory status of the trellis encodingmodule 256. Further, due to the newly replaced initialization data, aprocess of newly calculating the RS parity and replacing the RS parity,which is outputted from the data interleaver 253, with the newlycalculated RS parity is required. Therefore, the non-systematic RSencoder 255 receives the mobile service data packet including theinitialization data place holders, which are to be replaced with theactual initialization data, from the data interleaver 253 and alsoreceives the initialization data from the trellis encoding module 256.

Among the inputted mobile service data packet, the initialization dataplace holders are replaced with the initialization data, and the RSparity data that are added to the mobile service data packet are removedand processed with non-systematic RS encoding. Thereafter, the new RSparity obtained by performing the non-systematic RS encoding process isoutputted to the parity replacer 255. Accordingly, the parity replacer255 selects the output of the data interleaver 253 as the data withinthe mobile service data packet, and the parity replacer 255 selects theoutput of the non-systematic RS encoder 255 as the RS parity. Theselected data are then outputted to the trellis encoding module 256.

Meanwhile, if the main service data packet is inputted or if the mobileservice data packet, which does not include any initialization dataplace holders that are to be replaced, is inputted, the parity replacer254 selects the data and RS parity that are outputted from the datainterleaver 253. Then, the parity replacer 254 directly outputs theselected data to the trellis encoding module 256 without anymodification. The trellis encoding module 256 converts the byte-unitdata to symbol units and performs a 12-way interleaving process so as totrellis-encode the received data. Thereafter, the processed data areoutputted to the synchronization multiplexer 260.

The synchronization multiplexer 260 inserts a field synchronizationsignal and a segment synchronization signal to the data outputted fromthe trellis encoding module 256 and, then, outputs the processed data tothe pilot inserter 271 of the transmission unit 270. Herein, the datahaving a pilot inserted therein by the pilot inserter 271 are modulatedby the modulator 272 in accordance with a pre-determined modulatingmethod (e.g., a VSB method). Thereafter, the modulated data aretransmitted to each receiving system though the radio frequency (RF)up-converter 273.

Block Processor

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram showing a structure of a blockprocessor according to the present invention. Herein, the blockprocessor includes a byte-bit converter 401, a symbol encoder 402, asymbol interleaver 403, and a symbol-byte converter 404. The byte-bitconverter 401 divides the mobile service data bytes that are inputtedfrom the RS frame encoder 112 into bits, which are then outputted to thesymbol encoder 402. The byte-bit converter 401 may also receivesignaling information including transmission parameters. The signalinginformation data bytes are also divided into bits so as to be outputtedto the symbol encoder 402. Herein, the signaling information includingtransmission parameters may be processed with the same data processingstep as that of the mobile service data. More specifically, thesignaling information may be inputted to the block processor 303 bypassing through the data randomizer 301 and the RS frame encoder 302.Alternatively, the signaling information may also be directly outputtedto the block processor 303 without passing though the data randomizer301 and the RS frame encoder 302.

The symbol encoder 402 corresponds to a G/H-rate encoder encoding theinputted data from G bits to H bits and outputting the data encoded atthe coding rate of G/H. According to the embodiment of the presentinvention, it is assumed that the symbol encoder 402 performs either acoding rate of ½ (also referred to as a ½-rate encoding process) or anencoding process at a coding rate of ¼ (also referred to as a ¼-rateencoding process). The symbol encoder 402 performs one of ½-rateencoding and ¼-rate encoding on the inputted mobile service data andsignaling information. Thereafter, the signaling information is alsorecognized as the mobile service data and processed accordingly.

In case of performing the ½-rate coding process, the symbol encoder 402receives 1 bit and encodes the received 1 bit to 2 bits (i.e., 1symbol). Then, the symbol encoder 402 outputs the processed 2 bits (or 1symbol). On the other hand, in case of performing the ¼-rate encodingprocess, the symbol encoder 402 receives 1 bit and encodes the received1 bit to 4 bits (i.e., 2 symbols). Then, the symbol encoder 402 outputsthe processed 4 bits (or 2 symbols).

FIG. 10 illustrates a detailed block diagram of the symbol encoder 402shown in FIG. 9. The symbol encoder 402 includes two delay units 501 and503 and three adders 502, 504, and 505. Herein, the symbol encoder 402encodes an input data bit U and outputs the coded bit U to 4 bits (u0 tou4). At this point, the data bit U is directly outputted as uppermostbit u0 and simultaneously encoded as lower bit u1u2u3 and thenoutputted. More specifically, the input data bit U is directly outputtedas the uppermost bit u0 and simultaneously outputted to the first andthird adders 502 and 505. The first adder 502 adds the input data bit Uand the output bit of the first delay unit 501 and, then, outputs theadded bit to the second delay unit 503. Then, the data bit delayed by apre-determined time (e.g., by 1 clock) in the second delay unit 503 isoutputted as lower bit u1 and simultaneously fed-back to the first delayunit 501. The first delay unit 501 delays the data bit fed-back from thesecond delay unit 503 by a pre-determined time (e.g., by 1 clock). Then,the first delay unit 501 outputs the delayed data bit to the first adder502 and the second adder 504. The second adder 504 adds the data bitsoutputted from the first and second delay units 501 and 503 as a lowerbit u2. The third adder 505 adds the input data bit U and the output ofthe second delay unit 503 and outputs the added data bit as a lower bitu3.

At this point, if the input data bit U corresponds to data encoded at a½-coding rate, the symbol encoder 402 configures a symbol with u1u0 bitsfrom the 4 output bits u0u1u2u3. Then, the symbol encoder 402 outputsthe newly configured symbol. Alternatively, if the input data bit Ucorresponds to data encoded at a ¼-coding rate, the symbol encoder 402configures and outputs a symbol with bits u1u0 and, then, configures andoutputs another symbol with bits u2u3. According to another embodimentof the present invention, if the input data bit U corresponds to dataencoded at a ¼-coding rate, the symbol encoder 402 may also configureand output a symbol with bits u1u0, and then repeat the process onceagain and output the corresponding bits. According to yet anotherembodiment of the present invention, the symbol encoder outputs all fouroutput bits U u0u1u2u3. Then, when using the ½-coding rate, the symbolinterleaver 403 located behind the symbol encoder 402 selects only thesymbol configured of bits u1u0 from the four output bits u0u1u2u3.Alternatively, when using the ¼-coding rate, the symbol interleaver 403may select the symbol configured of bits u1u0 and then select anothersymbol configured of bits u2u3. According to another embodiment, whenusing the ¼-coding rate, the symbol interleaver 403 may repeatedlyselect the symbol configured of bits u1u0.

The output of the symbol encoder 402 is inputted to the symbolinterleaver 403. Then, the symbol interleaver 403 performs blockinterleaving in symbol units on the data outputted from the symbolencoder 402. Any interleaver performing structural rearrangement (orrealignment) may be applied as the symbol interleaver 403 of the blockprocessor. However, in the present invention, a variable length symbolinterleaver that can be applied even when a plurality of lengths isprovided for the symbol, so that its order may be rearranged, may alsobe used.

FIG. 11 illustrates a symbol interleaver according to an embodiment ofthe present invention. Herein, the symbol interleaver according to theembodiment of the present invention corresponds to a variable lengthsymbol interleaver that may be applied even when a plurality of lengthsis provided for the symbol, so that its order may be rearranged.Particularly, FIG. 11 illustrates an example of the symbol interleaverwhen K=6 and L=8. Herein, K indicates a number of symbols that areoutputted for symbol interleaving from the symbol encoder 402. And, Lrepresents a number of symbols that are actually interleaved by thesymbol interleaver 403.

In the present invention, the symbol interleaver 403 should satisfy theconditions of L=2″ (wherein n is an integer) and of L≧K. If there is adifference in value between K and L, (L−K) number of null (or dummy)symbols is added, thereby creating an interleaving pattern. Therefore, Kbecomes a block size of the actual symbols that are inputted to thesymbol interleaver 403 in order to be interleaved. L becomes aninterleaving unit when the interleaving process is performed by aninterleaving pattern created from the symbol interleaver 403. Theexample of what is described above is illustrated in FIG. 11.

More specifically, FIG. 11( a) to FIG. 11( c) illustrate a variablelength interleaving process of a symbol interleaver shown in FIG. 9. Thenumber of symbols outputted from the symbol encoder 402 in order to beinterleaved is equal to 6 (i.e., K=6). In other words, 6 symbols areoutputted from the symbol encoder 402 in order to be interleaved. And,the actual interleaving unit (L) is equal to 8 symbols. Therefore, asshown in FIG. 11( a), 2 symbols are added to the null (or dummy) symbol,thereby creating the interleaving pattern. Equation 2 shown belowdescribed the process of sequentially receiving K number of symbols, theorder of which is to be rearranged, and obtaining an L value satisfyingthe conditions of L=2″ (wherein n is an integer) and of L≧K, therebycreating the interleaving so as to realign (or rearrange) the symbolorder.

In relation to all places, wherein 0≦i≦L−1,P(i)={S×i×(i+1)/2} mod L  Equation 2

Herein, L≧K, L=2^(n), and n and S are integers. Referring to FIG. 11, itis assumed that S is equal to 89, and that L is equal to 8, and FIG. 11illustrates the created interleaving pattern and an example of theinterleaving process. As shown in FIG. 11( b), the order of K number ofinput symbols and (L−K) number of null symbols is rearranged by usingthe above-mentioned Equation 2. Then, as shown in FIG. 11( c), the nullbyte places are removed, so as to rearrange the order, by using Equation3 shown below. Thereafter, the symbol that is interleaved by therearranged order is then outputted to the symbol-byte converter.if P(i)>K−1, then P(i) place is removed and rearranged  Equation 3

Subsequently, the symbol-byte converter 404 converts to bytes the mobileservice data symbols, having the rearranging of the symbol ordercompleted and then outputted in accordance with the rearranged order,and thereafter outputs the converted bytes to the group formatter 304.

FIG. 12A illustrates a block diagram showing the structure of a blockprocessor according to another embodiment of the present invention.Herein, the block processor includes an interleaving unit 610 and ablock formatter 620. The interleaving unit 610 may include a byte-symbolconverter 611, a symbol-byte converter 612, a symbol interleaver 613,and a symbol-byte converter 614. Herein, the symbol interleaver 613 mayalso be referred to as a block interleaver.

The byte-symbol converter 611 of the interleaving unit 610 converts themobile service data X outputted in byte units from the RS frame encoder302 to symbol units. Then, the byte-symbol converter 611 outputs theconverted mobile service data symbols to the symbol-byte converter 612and the symbol interleaver 613. More specifically, the byte-symbolconverter 611 converts each 2 bits of the inputted mobile service databyte (=8 bits) to 1 symbol and outputs the converted symbols. This isbecause the input data of the trellis encoding module 256 consist ofsymbol units configured of 2 bits. The relationship between the blockprocessor 303 and the trellis encoding module 256 will be described indetail in a later process. At this point, the byte-symbol converter 611may also receive signaling information including transmissionparameters. Furthermore, the signaling information bytes may also bedivided into symbol units and then outputted to the symbol-byteconverter 612 and the symbol interleaver 613.

The symbol-byte converter 612 groups 4 symbols outputted from thebyte-symbol converter 611 so as to configure a byte. Thereafter, theconverted data bytes are outputted to the block formatter 620. Herein,each of the symbol-byte converter 612 and the byte-symbol converter 611respectively performs an inverse process on one another. Therefore, theyield of these two blocks is offset. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 12B,the input data X bypass the byte-symbol converter 611 and thesymbol-byte converter 612 and are directly inputted to the blockformatter 620. More specifically, the interleaving unit 610 of FIG. 12Bhas a structure equivalent to that of the interleaving unit shown inFIG. 12A. Therefore, the same reference numerals will be used in FIG.12A and FIG. 12B.

The symbol interleaver 613 performs block interleaving in symbol unitson the data that are outputted from the byte-symbol converter 611.Subsequently, the symbol interleaver 613 outputs the interleaved data tothe symbol-byte converter 614. Herein, any type of interleaver that canrearrange the structural order may be used as the symbol interleaver 613of the present invention. In the example given in the present invention,a variable length interleaver that may be applied for symbols having awide range of lengths, the order of which is to be rearranged. Forexample, the symbol interleaver of FIG. 11 may also be used in the blockprocessor shown in FIG. 12A and FIG. 12B.

The symbol-byte converter 614 outputs the symbols having the rearrangingof the symbol order completed, in accordance with the rearranged order.Thereafter, the symbols are grouped to be configured in byte units,which are then outputted to the block formatter 620. More specifically,the symbol-byte converter 614 groups 4 symbols outputted from the symbolinterleaver 613 so as to configure a data byte. As shown in FIG. 13, theblock formatter 620 performs the process of aligning the output of eachsymbol-byte converter 612 and 614 within the block in accordance with aset standard. Herein, the block formatter 620 operates in associationwith the trellis encoding module 256.

More specifically, the block formatter 620 decides the output order ofthe mobile service data outputted from each symbol-byte converter 612and 614 while taking into consideration the place (or order) of the dataexcluding the mobile service data that are being inputted, wherein themobile service data include main service data, known data, RS paritydata, and MPEG header data.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, the trellisencoding module 256 is provided with 12 trellis encoders. FIG. 14illustrates a block diagram showing the trellis encoding module 256according to the present invention. In the example shown in FIG. 14, 12identical trellis encoders are combined to the interleaver in order todisperse noise. Herein, each trellis encoder may be provided with apre-coder.

FIG. 15A illustrates the block processor 303 being concatenated with thetrellis encoding module 256. In the transmitting system, a plurality ofblocks actually exists between the pre-processor 230 including the blockprocessor 303 and the trellis encoding module 256, as shown in FIG. 3.Conversely, the receiving system considers the pre-processor 230 to beconcatenated with the trellis encoding module 256, thereby performingthe decoding process accordingly. However, the data excluding the mobileservice data that are being inputted to the trellis encoding module 256,wherein the mobile service data include main service data, known data,RS parity data, and MPEG header data, correspond to data that are addedto the blocks existing between the block processor 303 and the trellisencoding module 256. FIG. 15B illustrates an example of a data processor650 being positioned between the block processor 303 and the trellisencoding module 256, while taking the above-described instance intoconsideration.

Herein, when the interleaving unit 610 of the block processor 303performs a ½-rate encoding process, the interleaving unit 610 may beconfigured as shown in FIG. 12A (or FIG. 12B). Referring to FIG. 3, forexample, the data processor 650 may include a group formatter 304, adata deinterleaver 305, a packet formatter 306, a packet multiplexer240, and a post-processor 250, wherein the post-processor 250 includes adata randomizer 251, a RS encoder/non-systematic RS encoder 252, a datainterleaver 253, a parity replacer 254, and a non-systematic RS encoder255.

At this point, the trellis encoding module 256 symbolizes the data thatare being inputted so as to divide the symbolized data and to send thedivided data to each trellis encoder in accordance with a pre-definedmethod. Herein, one byte is converted into 4 symbols, each beingconfigured of 2 bits. Also, the symbols created from the single databyte are all transmitted to the same trellis encoder. Accordingly, eachtrellis encoder pre-codes an upper bit of the input symbol, which isthen outputted as the uppermost output bit C2. Alternatively, eachtrellis encoder trellis-encodes a lower bit of the input symbol, whichis then outputted as two output bits C1 and C0. The block formatter 620is controlled so that the data byte outputted from each symbol-byteconverter can be transmitted to different trellis encoders.

Hereinafter, the operation of the block formatter 620 will now bedescribed in detail with reference to FIG. 9 to FIG. 12. Referring toFIG. 12A, for example, the data byte outputted from the symbol-byteconverter 612 and the data byte outputted from the symbol-byte converter614 are inputted to different trellis encoders of the trellis encodingmodule 256 in accordance with the control of the block formatter 620.Hereinafter, the data byte outputted from the symbol-byte converter 612will be referred to as X, and the data byte outputted from thesymbol-byte converter 614 will be referred to as Y, for simplicity.Referring to FIG. 13( a), each number (i.e., 0 to 11) indicates thefirst to twelfth trellis encoders of the trellis encoding module 256,respectively.

In addition, the output order of both symbol-byte converters arearranged (or aligned) so that the data bytes outputted from thesymbol-byte converter 612 are respectively inputted to the 0^(th) to5^(th) trellis encoders (0 to 5) of the trellis encoding module 256, andthat the data bytes outputted from the symbol-byte converter 614 arerespectively inputted to the 6^(th) to 11^(th) trellis encoders (6 to11) of the trellis encoding module 256. Herein, the trellis encodershaving the data bytes outputted from the symbol-byte converter 612allocated therein, and the trellis encoders having the data bytesoutputted from the symbol-byte converter 614 allocated therein aremerely examples given to simplify the understanding of the presentinvention. Furthermore, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention, and assuming that the input data of the block processor 303correspond to a block configured of 12 bytes, the symbol-byte converter612 outputs 12 data bytes from X0 to X11, and the symbol-byte converter614 outputs 12 data bytes from Y0 to Y11.

FIG. 13( b) illustrates an example of data being inputted to the trellisencoding module 256. Particularly, FIG. 13( b) illustrates an example ofnot only the mobile service data but also the main service data and RSparity data being inputted to the trellis encoding module 256, so as tobe distributed to each trellis encoder. More specifically, the mobileservice data outputted from the block processor 303 pass through thegroup formatter 304, from which the mobile service data are mixed withthe main service data and RS parity data and then outputted, as shown inFIG. 13( a). Accordingly, each data byte is respectively inputted to the12 trellis encoders in accordance with the positions (or places) withinthe data group after being data-interleaved.

Herein, when the output data bytes X and Y of the symbol-byte converters612 and 614 are allocated to each respective trellis encoder, the inputof each trellis encoder may be configured as shown in FIG. 13( b). Morespecifically, referring to FIG. 13( b), the six mobile service databytes (X0 to X5) outputted from the symbol-byte converter 612 aresequentially allocated (or distributed) to the first to sixth trellisencoders (0 to 5) of the trellis encoding module 256. Also, the 2 mobileservice data bytes Y0 and Y1 outputted from the symbol-byte converter614 are sequentially allocated to the 7^(th) and 8^(th) trellis encoders(6 and 7) of the trellis encoding module 256. Thereafter, among the 5main service data bytes, 4 data bytes are sequentially allocated to the9^(th) and 12^(th) trellis encoders (8 to 11) of the trellis encodingmodule 256. Finally, the remaining 1 byte of the main service data byteis allocated once again to the first trellis encoder (0).

It is assumed that the mobile service data, the main service data, andthe RS parity data are allocated to each trellis encoder, as shown inFIG. 13( b). It is also assumed that, as described above, the input ofthe block processor 303 is configured of 12 bytes, and that 12 bytesfrom X0 to X11 are outputted from the symbol-byte converter 612, andthat 12 bytes from Y0 to Y11 are outputted from the symbol-byteconverter 614. In this case, as shown in FIG. 13( c), the blockformatter 620 arranges the data bytes that are to be outputted from thesymbol-byte converters 612 and 614 by the order of X0 to X5, Y0, Y1, X6to X10, Y2 to Y7, X11, and Y8 to Y11. More specifically, the trellisencoder that is to perform the encoding process is decided based uponthe position (or place) within the transmission frame in which each databyte is inserted. At this point, not only the mobile service data butalso the main service data, the MPEG header data, and the RS parity dataare also inputted to the trellis encoding module 256. Herein, it isassumed that, in order to perform the above-described operation, theblock formatter 620 is informed of (or knows) the information on thedata group format after the data-interleaving process.

FIG. 16 illustrates a block diagram of the block processor performing anencoding process at a coding rate of 1/N according to an embodiment ofthe present invention. Herein, the block processor includes (N−1) numberof symbol interleavers 741 to 74N−1, which are configured in a parallelstructure. More specifically, the block processor having the coding rateof 1/N consists of a total of N number of branches (or paths) includinga branch (or path), which is directly transmitted to the block formatter730. In addition, the symbol interleaver 741 to 74N−1 of each branch mayeach be configured of a different symbol interleaver. Furthermore, (N−1)number of symbol-byte converter 751 to 75N−1 each corresponding to each(N−1) number of symbol interleavers 741 to 74N−1 may be included at theend of each symbol interleaver, respectively. Herein, the output data ofthe (N−1) number of symbol-byte converter 751 to 75N−1 are also inputtedto the block formatter 730.

In the example of the present invention, N is equal to or smaller than12. If N is equal to 12, the block formatter 730 may align the outputdata so that the output byte of the 12^(th) symbol-byte converter 75N−1is inputted to the 12^(th) trellis encoder. Alternatively, if N is equalto 3, the block formatter 730 may arranged the output order, so that thedata bytes outputted from the symbol-byte converter 720 are inputted tothe 1^(st) to 4^(th) trellis encoders of the trellis encoding module256, and that the data bytes outputted from the symbol-byte converter751 are inputted to the 5^(th) to 8^(th) trellis encoders, and that thedata bytes outputted from the symbol-byte converter 752 are inputted tothe 9^(th) to 12^(th) trellis encoders. At this point, the order of thedata bytes outputted from each symbol-byte converter may vary inaccordance with the position within the data group of the data otherthan the mobile service data, which are mixed with the mobile servicedata that are outputted from each symbol-byte converter.

FIG. 17 illustrates a detailed block diagram showing the structure of ablock processor according to another embodiment of the presentinvention. Herein, the block formatter is removed from the blockprocessor so that the operation of the block formatter may be performedby a group formatter. More specifically, the block processor of FIG. 17may include a byte-symbol converter 810, symbol-byte converters 820 and840, and a symbol interleaver 830. In this case, the output of eachsymbol-byte converter 820 and 840 is inputted to the group formatter850.

Also, the block processor may obtain a desired coding rate by addingsymbol interleavers and symbol-byte converters. If the system designerwishes a coding rate of 1/N, the block processor needs to be providedwith a total of N number of branches (or paths) including a branch (orpath), which is directly transmitted to the block formatter 850, and(N−1) number of symbol interleavers and symbol-byte convertersconfigured in a parallel structure with (N−1) number of branches. Atthis point, the group formatter 850 inserts place holders ensuring thepositions (or places) for the MPEG header, the non-systematic RS parity,and the main service data. And, at the same time, the group formatter850 positions the data bytes outputted from each branch of the blockprocessor.

The number of trellis encoders, the number of symbol-byte converters,and the number of symbol interleavers proposed in the present inventionare merely exemplary. And, therefore, the corresponding numbers do notlimit the spirit or scope of the present invention. It is apparent tothose skilled in the art that the type and position of each data bytebeing allocated to each trellis encoder of the trellis encoding module256 may vary in accordance with the data group format. Therefore, thepresent invention should not be understood merely by the examples givenin the description set forth herein. The mobile service data that areencoded at a coding rate of 1/N and outputted from the block processor303 are inputted to the group formatter 304. Herein, in the example ofthe present invention, the order of the output data outputted from theblock formatter of the block processor 303 are aligned and outputted inaccordance with the position of the data bytes within the data group.

Signaling Information Processing

The transmitter 200 according to the present invention may inserttransmission parameters by using a plurality of methods and in aplurality of positions (or places), which are then transmitted to thereceiving system. For simplicity, the definition of a transmissionparameter that is to be transmitted from the transmitter to thereceiving system will now be described. The transmission parameterincludes data group information, region information within a data group,the number of RS frames configuring a super frame (i.e., a super framesize (SFS)), the number of RS parity data bytes (P) for each columnwithin the RS frame, whether or not a checksum, which is added todetermine the presence of an error in a row direction within the RSframe, has been used, the type and size of the checksum if the checksumis used (presently, 2 bytes are added to the CRC), the number of datagroups configuring one RS frame—since the RS frame is transmitted to oneburst section, the number of data groups configuring the one RS frame isidentical to the number of data groups within one burst (i.e., burstsize (BS)), a turbo code mode, and a RS code mode.

Also, the transmission parameter required for receiving a burst includesa burst period—herein, one burst period corresponds to a value obtainedby counting the number of fields starting from the beginning of acurrent burst until the beginning of a next burst, a positioning orderof the RS frames that are currently being transmitted within a superframe (i.e., a permuted frame index (PFI)) or a positioning order ofgroups that are currently being transmitted within a RS frame (burst)(i.e., a group index (GI)), and a burst size. Depending upon the methodof managing a burst, the transmission parameter also includes the numberof fields remaining until the beginning of the next burst (i.e., time tonext burst (TNB)). And, by transmitting such information as thetransmission parameter, each data group being transmitted to thereceiving system may indicate a relative distance (or number of fields)between a current position and the beginning of a next burst.

The information included in the transmission parameter corresponds toexamples given to facilitate the understanding of the present invention.Therefore, the proposed examples do not limit the scope or spirit of thepresent invention and may be easily varied or modified by anyone skilledin the art. According to the first embodiment of the present invention,the transmission parameter may be inserted by allocating a predeterminedregion of the mobile service data packet or the data group. In thiscase, the receiving system performs synchronization and equalization ona received signal, which is then decoded by symbol units. Thereafter,the packet deformatter may separate the mobile service data and thetransmission parameter so as to detect the transmission parameter.According to the first embodiment, the transmission parameter may beinserted from the group formatter 304 and then transmitted.

According to the second embodiment of the present invention, thetransmission parameter may be multiplexed with another type of data. Forexample, when known data are multiplexed with the mobile service data, atransmission parameter may be inserted, instead of the known data, in aplace (or position) where a known data byte is to be inserted.Alternatively, the transmission parameter may be mixed with the knowndata and then inserted in the place where the known data byte is to beinserted. According to the second embodiment, the transmission parametermay be inserted from the group formatter 304 or from the packetformatter 306 and then transmitted.

According to a third embodiment of the present invention, thetransmission parameter may be inserted by allocating a portion of areserved region within a field synchronization segment of a transmissionframe. In this case, since the receiving system may perform decoding ona receiving signal by symbol units before detecting the transmissionparameter, the transmission parameter having information on theprocessing methods of the block processor 303 and the group formatter304 may be inserted in a reserved field of a field synchronizationsignal. More specifically, the receiving system obtains fieldsynchronization by using a field synchronization segment so as to detectthe transmission parameter from a pre-decided position. According to thethird embodiment, the transmission parameter may be inserted from thesynchronization multiplexer 240 and then transmitted.

According to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, thetransmission parameter may be inserted in a layer (or hierarchicalregion) higher than a transport stream (TS) packet. In this case, thereceiving system should be able to receive a signal and process thereceived signal to a layer higher than the TS packet in advance. At thispoint, the transmission parameter may be used to certify thetransmission parameter of a currently received signal and to provide thetransmission parameter of a signal that is to be received in a laterprocess.

In the present invention, the variety of transmission parametersassociated with the transmission signal may be inserted and transmittedby using the above-described methods according to the first to fourthembodiment of the present invention. At this point, the transmissionparameter may be inserted and transmitted by using only one of the fourembodiments described above, or by using a selection of theabove-described embodiments, or by using all of the above-describedembodiments. Furthermore, the information included in the transmissionparameter may be duplicated and inserted in each embodiment.Alternatively, only the required information may be inserted in thecorresponding position of the corresponding embodiment and thentransmitted. Furthermore, in order to ensure robustness of thetransmission parameter, a block encoding process of a short cycle (orperiod) may be performed on the transmission parameter and, then,inserted in a corresponding region. The method for performing ashort-period block encoding process on the transmission parameter mayinclude, for example, Kerdock encoding, BCH encoding, RS encoding, andrepetition encoding of the transmission parameter. Also, a combinationof a plurality of block encoding methods may also be performed on thetransmission parameter.

The transmission parameters may be grouped to create a block code of asmall size, so as to be inserted in a byte place allocated within thedata group for signaling and then transmitted. However, in this case,the block code passes through the block decoded from the receiving endso as to obtain a transmission parameter value. Therefore, thetransmission parameters of the turbo code mode and the RS code mode,which are required for block decoding, should first be obtained.Accordingly, the transmission parameters associated with a particularmode may be inserted in a specific section of a known data region. And,in this case, a correlation of with a symbol may be used for a fasterdecoding process. The receiving system refers to the correlation betweeneach sequence and the currently received sequences, thereby determiningthe encoding mode and the combination mode.

Meanwhile, when the transmission parameter is inserted in the fieldsynchronization segment region or the known data region and thentransmitted, and when the transmission parameter has passed through thetransmission channel, the reliability of the transmission parameter isdeteriorated. Therefore, one of a plurality of pre-defined patterns mayalso be inserted in accordance with the corresponding transmissionparameter. Herein, the receiving system performs a correlationcalculation between the received signal and the pre-defined patterns soas to recognize the transmission parameter. For example, it is assumedthat a burst including 5 data groups is pre-decided as pattern A basedupon an agreement between the transmitting system and the receivingsystem. In this case, the transmitting system inserts and transmitspattern A, when the number of groups within the burst is equal to 5.Thereafter, the receiving system calculates a correlation between thereceived data and a plurality of reference patterns including pattern A,which was created in advance. At this point, if the correlation valuebetween the received data and pattern A is the greatest, the receiveddata indicates the corresponding parameter, and most particularly, thenumber of groups within the burst. At this point, the number of groupsmay be acknowledged as 5. Hereinafter, the process of inserting andtransmitting the transmission parameter will now be described accordingto first, second, and third embodiments of the present invention.

First Embodiment

FIG. 18 illustrates a schematic diagram of the group formatter 304receiving the transmission parameter and inserting the receivedtransmission parameter in region A of the data group according to thepresent invention. Herein, the group formatter 304 receives mobileservice data from the block processor 303. Conversely, the transmissionparameter is processed with at least one of a data randomizing process,a RS frame encoding process, and a block processing process, and maythen be inputted to the group formatter 304. Alternatively, thetransmission parameter may be directly inputted to the group formatter304 without being processed with any of the above-mentioned processes.In addition, the transmission parameter may be provided from the servicemultiplexer 100. Alternatively, the transmission parameter may also begenerated and provided from within the transmitter 200. The transmissionparameter may also include information required by the receiving systemin order to receive and process the data included in the data group. Forexample, the transmission parameter may include data group information,and multiplexing information.

The group formatter 304 inserts the mobile service data and transmissionparameter which are to be inputted to corresponding regions within thedata group in accordance with a rule for configuring a data group. Forexample, the transmission parameter passes through a block encodingprocess of a short period and is, then, inserted in region A of the datagroup. Particularly, the transmission parameter may be inserted in apre-arranged and arbitrary position (or place) within region A. If it isassumed that the transmission parameter has been block encoded by theblock processor 303, the block processor 303 performs the same dataprocessing operation as the mobile service data, more specifically,either a ½-rate encoding or ¼-rate encoding process on the signalinginformation including the transmission parameter. Thereafter, the blockprocessor 303 outputs the processed transmission parameter to the groupformatter 304. Thereafter, the signaling information is also recognizedas the mobile service data and processed accordingly.

FIG. 19 illustrates a block diagram showing an example of the blockprocessor receiving the transmission parameter and processing thereceived transmission parameter with the same process as the mobileservice data. Particularly, FIG. 19 illustrates an example showing thestructure of FIG. 9 further including a signaling information provider411 and multiplexer 412. More specifically, the signaling informationprovider 411 outputs the signaling information including thetransmission parameter to the multiplexer 412. The multiplexer 412multiplexes the signaling information and the output of the RS frameencoder 302. Then, the multiplexer 412 outputs the multiplexed data tothe byte-bit converter 401.

The byte-bit converter 401 divides the mobile service data bytes orsignaling information byte outputted from the multiplexer 412 into bits,which are then outputted to the symbol encoder 402. The subsequentoperations are identical to those described in FIG. 9. Therefore, adetailed description of the same will be omitted for simplicity. If anyof the detailed structures of the block processor 303 shown in FIG. 12,FIG. 15, FIG. 16, and FIG. 17, the signaling information provider 411and the multiplexer 412 may be provided behind the byte-symbolconverter.

Second Embodiment

Meanwhile, when known data generated from the group formatter inaccordance with a pre-decided rule are inserted in a correspondingregion within the data group, a transmission parameter may be insertedin at least a portion of a region, where known data may be inserted,instead of the known data. For example, when a long known data sequenceis inserted at the beginning of region A within the data group, atransmission parameter may be inserted in at least a portion of thebeginning of region A instead of the known data. A portion of the knowndata sequence that is inserted in the remaining portion of region A,excluding the portion in which the transmission parameter is inserted,may be used to detect a starting point of the data group by thereceiving system. Alternatively, another portion of region A may be usedfor channel equalization by the receiving system.

In addition, when the transmission parameter is inserted in the knowndata region instead of the actual known data. The transmission parametermay be block encoded in short periods and then inserted. Also, asdescribed above, the transmission parameter may also be inserted basedupon a pre-defined pattern in accordance with the transmissionparameter. If the group formatter 304 inserts known data place holdersin a region within the data group, wherein known data may be inserted,instead of the actual known data, the transmission parameter may beinserted by the packet formatter 306. More specifically, when the groupformatter 304 inserts the known data place holders, the packet formatter306 may insert the known data instead of the known data place holders.Alternatively, when the group formatter 304 inserts the known data, theknown data may be directly outputted without modification.

FIG. 20 illustrates a block diagram showing the structure of a packetformatter 306 being expanded so that the packet formatter 306 can insertthe transmission parameter according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. More specifically, the structure of the packet formatter 306further includes a known data generator 351 and a signaling multiplexer352. Herein, the transmission parameter that is inputted to thesignaling multiplexer 352 may include information on the length of acurrent burst, information indicating a starting point of a next burst,positions in which the groups within the burst exist and the lengths ofthe groups, information on the time from the current group and the nextgroup within the burst, and information on known data.

The signaling multiplexer 352 selects one of the transmission parameterand the known data generated from the known data generator 351 and,then, outputs the selected data to the packet formatter 306. The packetformatter 306 inserts the known data or transmission parameter outputtedfrom the signaling multiplexer 352 into the known data place holdersoutputted from the data interleaver 305. Then, the packet formatter 306outputs the processed data. More specifically, the packet formatter 306inserts a transmission parameter in at least a portion of the known dataregion instead of the known data, which is then outputted. For example,when a known data place holder is inserted at a beginning portion ofregion A within the data group, a transmission parameter may be insertedin a portion of the known data place holder instead of the actual knowndata.

Also, when the transmission parameter is inserted in the known dataplace holder instead of the known data, the transmission parameter maybe block encoded in short periods and inserted. Alternatively, apre-defined pattern may be inserted in accordance with the transmissionparameter. More specifically, the signaling multiplexer 352 multiplexesthe known data and the transmission parameter (or the pattern defined bythe transmission parameter) so as to configure a new known datasequence. Then, the signaling multiplexer 352 outputs the newlyconfigured known data sequence to the packet formatter 306. The packetformatter 306 deletes the main service data place holder and RS parityplace holder from the output of the data interleaver 305, and creates amobile service data packet of 188 bytes by using the mobile servicedata, MPEG header, and the output of the signaling multiplexer. Then,the packet formatter 306 outputs the newly created mobile service datapacket to the packet multiplexer 240.

In this case, the region A of each data group has a different known datapattern. Therefore, the receiving system separates only the symbol in apre-arranged section of the known data sequence and recognizes theseparated symbol as the transmission parameter. Herein, depending uponthe design of the transmitting system, the known data may be inserted indifferent blocks, such as the packet formatter 306, the group formatter304, or the block processor 303. Therefore, a transmission parameter maybe inserted instead of the known data in the block wherein the knowndata are to be inserted.

According to the second embodiment of the present invention, atransmission parameter including information on the processing method ofthe block processor 303 may be inserted in a portion of the known dataregion and then transmitted. In this case, a symbol processing methodand position of the symbol for the actual transmission parameter symbolare already decided. Also, the position of the transmission parametersymbol should be positioned so as to be transmitted or received earlierthan any other data symbols that are to be decoded. Accordingly, thereceiving system may detect the transmission symbol before the datasymbol decoding process, so as to use the detected transmission symbolfor the decoding process.

Third Embodiment

Meanwhile, the transmission parameter may also be inserted in the fieldsynchronization segment region and then transmitted. FIG. 21 illustratesa block diagram showing the synchronization multiplexer being expandedin order to allow the transmission parameter to be inserted in the fieldsynchronization segment region. Herein, a signaling multiplexer 261 isfurther included in the synchronization multiplexer 260. Thetransmission parameter of the general VSB method is configured of 2fields. More specifically, each field is configured of one fieldsynchronization segment and 312 data segments. Herein, the first 4symbols of a data segment correspond to the segment synchronizationportion, and the first data segment of each field corresponds to thefield synchronization portion.

One field synchronization signal is configured to have the length of onedata segment. The data segment synchronization pattern exists in thefirst 4 symbols, which are then followed by pseudo random sequences PN511, PN 63, PN 63, and PN 63. The next 24 symbols include informationassociated with the VSB mode. Additionally, the 24 symbols that includeinformation associated with the VSB mode are followed by the remaining104 symbols, which are reserved symbols. Herein, the last 12 symbols ofa previous segment are copied and positioned as the last 12 symbols inthe reserved region. In other words, only the 92 symbols in the fieldsynchronization segment are the symbols that correspond to the actualreserved region.

Therefore, the signaling multiplexer 261 multiplexes the transmissionparameter with an already-existing field synchronization segment symbol,so that the transmission parameter can be inserted in the reservedregion of the field synchronization segment. Then, the signalingmultiplexer 261 outputs the multiplexed transmission parameter to thesynchronization multiplexer 260. The synchronization multiplexer 260multiplexes the segment synchronization symbol, the data symbols, andthe new field synchronization segment outputted from the signalingmultiplexer 261, thereby configuring a new transmission frame. Thetransmission frame including the field synchronization segment, whereinthe transmission parameter is inserted, is outputted to the transmissionunit 270. At this point, the reserved region within the fieldsynchronization segment for inserting the transmission parameter maycorrespond to a portion of or the entire 92 symbols of the reservedregion. Herein, the transmission parameter being inserted in thereserved region may, for example, include information identifying thetransmission parameter as the main service data, the mobile servicedata, or a different type of mobile service data.

If the information on the processing method of the block processor 303is transmitted as a portion of the transmission parameter, and when thereceiving system wishes to perform a decoding process corresponding tothe block processor 303, the receiving system should be informed of suchinformation on the block processing method in order to perform thedecoding process. Therefore, the information on the processing method ofthe block processor 303 should already be known prior to the blockdecoding process. Accordingly, as described in the third embodiment ofthe present invention, when the transmission parameter having theinformation on the processing method of the block processor 303 (and/orthe group formatter 304) is inserted in the reserved region of the fieldsynchronization signal and then transmitted, the receiving system iscapable of detecting the transmission parameter prior to performing theblock decoding process on the received signal.

Receiving System

FIG. 22 is a block diagram illustrating a mobile service data receivingapparatus for processing mobile service data and electronic programinformation upon receiving mobile service data packet.

Referring to FIG. 22, the mobile service data receiving apparatus 900according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a signalreceiving unit 910, a demodulator 920, a demultiplexer 940, a datadecoder 950, a PSI/PSIP database 960, an A/V decoder 970, a controller(also called an application & UI manager) 980, a channel manager 982, achannel map 984, a flash memory 986, a user interface unit 988, adisplay unit 990, a storage unit 1000, a peripheral-device connectioninterface unit 1100, and a thumbnail decoder 1200, etc. In this case,according to an embodiment of the present invention, the data decoder950 may be a PSI/PSIP decoder, so that the PSI/PSIP decoder willhereinafter be used instead of the data decoder for the convenience ofdescription and better understanding of the present invention.

For example, the above-mentioned mobile service data receiving apparatus900 may be a digital television (DTV) capable of receiving digitalbroadcast data, a mobile digital broadcast receiver, etc.

The signal receiving unit 910 receives a frequency of a specificchannel, and outputs it.

The signal receiving unit 910 can receive mobile service data packet andmain service data packet. In other words, the signal receiving unit 910can selectively receive multiplexed main service data packet andmultiplexed mobile service data packet. In this case, the aforementionedselective reception is as follows. For example, if it is assumed thatthe mobile service data packet and the main service data packet aremultiplexed in a burst structure including a burst-on section and aburst-off section, and are then transmitted, the signal receiving unit910 receives the mobile service data packet during the burst-on section.In this case, the burst-on section may include not only the mobileservice data packet but also some parts of the main service data packet.

In other words, only the main service data packet may be transmittedduring the burst-off section, and both the mobile service data packetand the main service data packet may be transmitted during the burst-onsection. Thereafter, the signal receiving unit 910 divides the receiveddata of the burst-on section into mobile service data packet and mainservice data packet.

In this case, the received broadcast signal includes a Program andSystem Information/Program and System Information Protocol (PSI/PSIP)table.

Specifically, the PSI/PSI table includes an Event Information Table(EIT) and a Virtual Channel Table (VCT).

In the meantime, the signal receiving unit 910 may be controlled by thechannel manager 982.

The signal receiving unit 910 records the result of the received digitalbroadcast signal in the channel manager 982.

The demodulating unit 920 demodulates the reception (Rx) signal of thesignal receiving unit 910, and divides the Rx signal into mobile servicedata packet and main service data packet. The demodulating unit 920performs inverse processing of the transmission end's process which hasbeen executed to improve a Rx performance of mobile service data. Thesignal processing of the demodulating unit 920 will be described laterwith reference to FIG. 23.

The demultiplexer 940 receives the demodulated signal from thedemodulating unit 920, and performs demultiplexing on the receivedsignal, so that it outputs main service data, PSI/PSIP table dataassociated with the main service data, mobile service data, and PSI/PSIPtable data with the mobile service data. The mobile service data andassociated PSI/PSIP table data will hereinafter be described using themobile broadcast receiver as an example.

The demultiplexing of mobile audio data and mobile video data from amongmobile service data may be controlled by the channel manager 982. Thedemultiplexing of the PSI/PSIP table may be controlled by the PSI/PSIPdecoder 950.

The demultiplexed PSI/PSIP table is transmitted to the PSI/PSIP decoder950. The demultiplexed mobile audio data and the demultiplexed videodata are transmitted to the A/V decoder 970. The A/V decoder 970includes an audio decoder and a video decoder. The audio decoder decodesthe received audio data using an audio decoding algorithm, and the videodecoder decodes the received video data using a video decodingalgorithm.

The PSI/PSIP decoder 950 performs parsing the PSI/PSIP sectionconstructing the table, and records electronic program information inthe PSI/PSIP database 960. In this case, the PSI/PSIP decoder may be anexample of the data decoder.

The channel manager 982 transmits a request for receiving achannel-associated information table by referring to the channel map984, and receives a response to the request.

In this case, the PSI/PSIP decoder 950 controls the demultiplexing ofthe channel-associated information table, and transmits the A/V and dataPID list to the channel manager 982.

The channel manager 982 directly controls the multiplexer 940 using theabove transmitted A/V PID, so that it controls the A/V decoder 970.

The controller 980 controls a Graphical User Interface (GUI) fordisplaying status information of the above receiving system on the OSD(On Screen Display).

Particularly, according to the present invention, the demultiplexer 940demultiplexes the EIT, and transmits the demultiplexed result to thePSI/PSIP decoder 950.

The above-mentioned process for decoding the electronic programinformation from a table including program information can be readilyunderstood, and a detailed description thereof will hereinafter bedescribed with reference to FIG. 25. The table including the programinformation will hereinafter be described using the EIT as an example.

The PSI/PSIP decoder 950 detects the EIT and acquires information ofmobile service data and program information of the inventive mobileservice data.

For example, if the broadcast receiver 900 receives an EPG servicerequest from a user, the channel manager 982 gains access to thePSI/PSIP decoder 950, and receives information associated with therequest.

The controller 980 controls the display unit 990, and transmits mobileservice data and electronic program information associated with themobile service data. For example, the electronic program information maybe an Electronic Program Guide (EPG). In other words, the controller 980collects the electronic program information, and controls the EPGinformation applied to the display unit 990 using the collectedelectronic program information.

The controller 980 controls all parts of the storing/reproducing of thereceived mobile service data. If a storage selection signal is entered,the controller 980 stores data or signals in the storage unit 1000 ofthe receiver, or stores the data or signals in an external storage unitconnected to a peripheral-device connection interface unit 1100.

If a playback selection signal is entered, the controller 980 readsmobile service data from the storage unit 1000 of the receiver 900 orthe external storage unit connected to the peripheral-device connectioninterface unit 1100, and reproduces the read mobile service data.

The user interface unit 988 receives a user's selection signal. Forexample, the user interface unit 988 may receive an EPG function callsignal, or receive a signal for selecting a detailed function from amongthe EPG display.

The display unit 990 outputs not only mobile service data but alsoelectronic program information associated with the mobile service data.In this case, the mobile service data and the electronic programinformation associated with the mobile service data may be displayedseparately from each other, or may also be displayed at the same time.

The storage unit 1000 contained in the receiver stores the receivedmobile service data or PSI/PSIP information of the mobile service data.As the aforementioned mobile service data, the output data of thedemodulator 920 may be stored, the output data of the demultiplexer 940may be stored, or the decoded output of the A/V decoder 970 may bestored. This storage unit 1000 may be selectively present in thereceiver.

The peripheral-device connection interface unit 1100 is a connectionpath to the external storage unit such that the received mobile servicedata can be stored in the external storage unit. This peripheral-deviceconnection interface unit 1100 can be selectively present in thereceiver.

The thumbnail image decoder 1200 decodes a thumbnail image in which aspecific frame of video data is represented by a small-sized image lessthan an original size. In this case, the thumbnail image decoder 1200receives the output data of the A/V decoder 970, decodes the thumbnailimage, and stores the decoded thumbnail image in the storage unit 1000.The thumbnail image decoder will be described later with reference toFIG. 50.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram illustrating the demodulating unit of FIG. 22according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 23, the demodulating unit recovers a carriersynchronization, a frame synchronization, and performs a channelequalization using known data, so that it improves a Rx performance. Inthis case, it should be noted that the known data has been inserted intothe mobile service data section by the transmission system, and then thetransmission system has transmitted the inserted result.

The demodulating unit 920 includes a demodulator 921, an equalizer 922,a known sequence detector 923, a block decoder 924, a data deformatter925, a RS-frame decoder 926, a derandomizer 927, a data deinterleaver928, a RS decoder 929, a data derandomizer 930, etc.

For the convenience of description, the data deformatter 925, the RSframe decoder 926, and the derandomizer 927 are hereinafter referred toas a mobile service data processor. The data deinterleaver 928, the RSdecoder 929, and the data derandomizer 930 are hereinafter referred toas a main service data processor.

For example, provided that the reception system is a broadcast receivingsystem capable of outputting only mobile service data other than mainservice data, the demodulating unit 920 according to the presentinvention may include only the mobile service data processor (i.e., thedata deformatter 925, the RS frame decoder 926, and the derandomizer927) other than the main service data processor (i.e., the datadeinterleaver 928, the RS decoder 929, and the data derandomizer 930).

And, provided that the reception system is a system capable ofoutputting both the main service data and the mobile service data, thedemodulating unit 920 according to the present invention may includeboth the mobile service data processor (i.e., the data deformatter 925,the RS frame decoder 926, and the derandomizer 927) and the main servicedata processor (i.e., the data deinterleaver 928, the RS decoder 929,and the data derandomizer 930).

In this case, mobile service data and electronic program informationassociated with the mobile service data are simultaneously processed bythe demodulating unit 920.

In more detail, the signal receiving unit 910 receives a frequency of aspecific channel, converts the received frequency into an IntermediateFrequency (IF) signal, and outputs the converted result to thedemodulator 921 and the known sequence detector 923.

The demodulator 921 receives the IF signal from the demodulator 921,performs an automatic gain control, a carrier recovery, and a timingrecovery on the received IF signal to create a baseband signal, andoutputs the baseband signal to the equalizer 922 and the known sequencedetector 923.

The equalizer 922 compensates for channel distortion contained in thedemodulated signal, and outputs the compensated result to the blockdecoder 924.

At this point, the known sequence detector 923 detects the knownsequence place inserted by the transmitting end from the input/outputdata of the demodulator 921 (i.e., the data prior to the demodulationprocess or the data after the demodulation process). Thereafter, theplace information along with the symbol sequence of the known data,which are generated from the detected place, is outputted to thedemodulator 921 and the equalizer 922. Also, the known sequence detector923 outputs a set of information to the block decoder 924. This set ofinformation is used to allow the block decoder 924 of the receivingsystem to identify the mobile service data that are processed withadditional encoding from the transmitting system and the main servicedata that are not processed with additional encoding. In addition,although the connection status is not shown in FIG. 23, the informationdetected from the known sequence detector 923 may be used throughout theentire receiving system and may also be used in the data deformatter 925and the RS frame decoder 926. The demodulator 921 uses the known datasymbol sequence during the timing and/or carrier recovery, therebyenhancing the demodulating performance. Similarly, the equalizer 922uses the known data so as to enhance the equalizing performance.Moreover, the decoding result of the block decoder 924 may be fed-backto the equalizer 922, thereby enhancing the equalizing performance.

The equalizer 922 may perform channel equalization by using a pluralityof methods. An example of estimating a channel impulse response (CIR) soas to perform channel equalization will be given in the description ofthe present invention. Most particularly, an example of estimating theCIR in accordance with each region within the data group, which ishierarchically divided and transmitted from the transmitting system, andapplying each CIR differently will also be described herein.Furthermore, by using the known data, the place and contents of which isknown in accordance with an agreement between the transmitting systemand the receiving system, and the field synchronization data, so as toestimate the CIR, the present invention may be able to perform channelequalization with more stability.

Herein, the data group that is inputted for the equalization process isdivided into regions A to C, as shown in FIG. 6A. More specifically, inthe example of the present invention, each region A, B, and C arefurther divided into regions A1 to A5, regions B1 and B2, and regions C1to C3, respectively. Referring to FIG. 6A, the CIR that is estimatedfrom the field synchronization data in the data structure is referred toas CIR_FS. Alternatively, the CIRs that are estimated from each of the 5known data sequences existing in region A are sequentially referred toas CIR_N0, CIR_N1, CIR_N2, CIR_N3, and CIR_N4.

As described above, the present invention uses the CIR estimated fromthe field synchronization data and the known data sequences in order toperform channel equalization on data within the data group. At thispoint, each of the estimated CIRs may be directly used in accordancewith the characteristics of each region within the data group.Alternatively, a plurality of the estimated CIRs may also be eitherinterpolated or extrapolated so as to create a new CIR, which is thenused for the channel equalization process.

Herein, when a value F(A) of a function F(x) at a particular point A anda value F(B) of the function F(x) at another particular point B areknown, interpolation refers to estimating a function value of a pointwithin the section between points A and B. Linear interpolationcorresponds to the simplest form among a wide range of interpolationoperations. The linear interpolation described herein is merelyexemplary among a wide range of possible interpolation methods. And,therefore, the present invention is not limited only to the examples setforth herein.

Alternatively, when a value F(A) of a function F(x) at a particularpoint A and a value F(B) of the function F(x) at another particularpoint B are known, extrapolation refers to estimating a function valueof a point outside of the section between points A and B. Linearextrapolation is the simplest form among a wide range of extrapolationoperations. Similarly, the linear extrapolation described herein ismerely exemplary among a wide range of possible extrapolation methods.And, therefore, the present invention is not limited only to theexamples set forth herein.

More specifically, in case of region C1, any one of the CIR_N4 estimatedfrom a previous data group, the CIR_FS estimated from the current datagroup that is to be processed with channel equalization, and a new CIRgenerated by extrapolating the CIR_FS of the current data group and theCIR_N0 may be used to perform channel equalization. Alternatively, incase of region B1, a variety of methods may be applied as described inthe case for region C1. For example, a new CIR created by linearlyextrapolating the CIR_FS estimated from the current data group and theCIR_N0 may be used to perform channel equalization. Also, the CIR_FSestimated from the current data group may also be used to performchannel equalization. Finally, in case of region A1, a new CIR may becreated by interpolating the CIR_FS estimated from the current datagroup and CIR_N0, which is then used to perform channel equalization.Furthermore, any one of the CIR_FS estimated from the current data groupand CIR_N0 may be used to perform channel equalization.

In case of regions A2 to A5, CIR_N(i−1) estimated from the current datagroup and CIR_N(i) may be interpolated to create a new CIR and use thenewly created CIR to perform channel equalization. Also, any one of theCIR_N(i−1) estimated from the current data group and the CIR_N(i) may beused to perform channel equalization. Alternatively, in case of regionsB2, C2, and C3, CIR_N3 and CIR_N4 both estimated from the current datagroup may be extrapolated to create a new CIR, which is then used toperform the channel equalization process. Furthermore, the CIR_N4estimated from the current data group may be used to perform the channelequalization process. Accordingly, an optimum performance may beobtained when performing channel equalization on the data inserted inthe data group. The methods of obtaining the CIRs required forperforming the channel equalization process in each region within thedata group, as described above, are merely examples given to facilitatethe understanding of the present invention. A wider range of methods mayalso be used herein. And, therefore, the present invention will not onlybe limited to the examples given in the description set forth herein.

Meanwhile, if the data being inputted to the block decoder 924 afterbeing channel equalized from the equalizer 922 correspond to the mobileservice data having additional encoding and trellis encoding performedthereon by the transmitting system, trellis decoding and additionaldecoding processes are performed on the inputted data as inverseprocesses of the transmitting system. Alternatively, if the data beinginputted to the block decoder 924 correspond to the main service datahaving only trellis encoding performed thereon, and not the additionalencoding, only the trellis decoding process is performed on the inputteddata as the inverse process of the transmitting system.

The data group decoded by the block decoder 924 is inputted to the datadeformatter 925, and the main service data are inputted to the datadeinterleaver 928. According to another embodiment, the main data mayalso bypass the block decoder 924 so as to be directly inputted to thedata deinterleaver 928. In this case, a trellis decoder for the mainservice data should be provided before the data deinterleaver 928. Whenthe block decoder 924 outputs the data group to the data deformatter925, the known data, trellis initialization data, and MPEG header, whichare inserted in the data group, and the RS parity, which is added by theRS encoder/non-systematic RS encoder or non-systematic RS encoder of thetransmitting system, are removed. Then, the processed data are outputtedto the data deformatter 925. Herein, the removal of the data may beperformed before the block decoding process, or may be performed duringor after the block decoding process. If the transmitting system includessignaling information in the data group upon transmission, the signalinginformation is outputted to the data deformatter 925.

More specifically, if the inputted data correspond to the main servicedata, the block decoder 924 performs Viterbi decoding on the inputteddata so as to output a hard decision value or to perform a hard-decisionon a soft decision value, thereby outputting the result. Meanwhile, ifthe inputted data correspond to the mobile service data, the blockdecoder 924 outputs a hard decision value or a soft decision value withrespect to the inputted mobile service data. In other words, if theinputted data correspond to the mobile service data, the block decoder924 performs a decoding process on the data encoded by the blockprocessor and trellis encoding module of the transmitting system.

At this point, the RS frame encoder of the pre-processor included in thetransmitting system may be viewed as an external code. And, the blockprocessor and the trellis encoder may be viewed as an internal code. Inorder to maximize the performance of the external code when decodingsuch concatenated codes, the decoder of the internal code should outputa soft decision value. Therefore, the block decoder 924 may output ahard decision value on the mobile service data. However, when required,it may be more preferable for the block decoder 924 to output a softdecision value.

Meanwhile, the data deinterleaver 928, the RS decoder 929, and thederandomizer 930 are blocks required for receiving the main servicedata. Therefore, the above-mentioned blocks may not be required in thestructure of a digital broadcast receiving system that only receives themobile service data. The data deinterleaver 928 performs an inverseprocess of the data interleaver included in the transmitting system. Inother words, the data deinterleaver 928 deinterleaves the main servicedata outputted from the block decoder 924 and outputs the deinterleavedmain service data to the RS decoder 929. The RS decoder 929 performs asystematic RS decoding process on the deinterleaved data and outputs theprocessed data to the derandomizer 930. The derandomizer 930 receivesthe output of the RS decoder 929 and generates a pseudo random data byteidentical to that of the randomizer included in the digital broadcasttransmitting system. Thereafter, the derandomizer 930 performs a bitwiseexclusive OR (XOR) operation on the generated pseudo random data byte,thereby inserting the MPEG synchronization bytes to the beginning ofeach packet so as to output the data in 188-byte main service datapacket units.

Meanwhile, the data being outputted from the block decoder 924 to thedata deformatter 925 are inputted in the form of a data group. At thispoint, the data deformatter 925 already knows the structure of the datathat are to be inputted and is, therefore, capable of identifying thesignaling information, which includes the system information, and themobile service data from the data group. Thereafter, the datadeformatter 925 outputs the identified signaling information to a blockfor processing signaling information (not shown) and outputs theidentified mobile service data to the RS frame decoder 926. Morespecifically, the RS frame decoder 926 receives only the RS encoded andCRC encoded mobile service data that are transmitted from the datadeformatter 925.

The RS frame encoder 926 performs an inverse process of the RS frameencoder included in the transmitting system so as to correct the errorwithin the RS frame. Then, the RS frame decoder 926 adds the 1-byte MPEGsynchronization service data packet, which had been removed during theRS frame encoding process, to the error-corrected mobile service datapacket. Thereafter, the processed data packet is outputted to thederandomizer 927. The operation of the RS frame decoder 926 will bedescribed in detail in a later process. The derandomizer 927 performs aderandomizing process, which corresponds to the inverse process of therandomizer included in the transmitting system, on the received mobileservice data. Thereafter, the derandomized data are outputted, therebyobtaining the mobile service data transmitted from the transmittingsystem. Hereinafter, detailed operations of the RS frame decoder 926will now be described.

FIG. 24 illustrates a series of exemplary step of an error correctiondecoding process of the RS frame decoder 926 according to the presentinvention. More specifically, the RS frame decoder 926 groups mobileservice data bytes received from the data deformatter 925 so as toconfigure an RS frame. The mobile service data correspond to data RSencoded and CRC encoded from the transmitting system. FIG. 24( a)illustrates an example of configuring the RS frame. More specifically,the transmitting system divided the RS frame having the size of(N+2)*235 to 30*235 byte blocks. When it is assumed that each of thedivided mobile service data byte blocks is inserted in each data groupand then transmitted, the receiving system also groups the 30*235 mobileservice data byte blocks respectively inserted in each data group,thereby configuring an RS frame having the size of (N+2)*235. Forexample, when it is assumed that an RS frame is divided into 18 30*235byte blocks and transmitted from a burst section, the receiving systemalso groups the mobile service data bytes of 18 data groups within thecorresponding burst section, so as to configure the RS frame.Furthermore, when it is assumed that N is equal to 538 (i.e., N=538),the RS frame decoder 926 may group the mobile service data bytes withinthe 18 data groups included in a burst so as to configure a RS framehaving the size of 540*235 bytes.

Herein, when it is assumed that the block decoder 924 outputs a softdecision value for the decoding result, the RS frame decoder 926 maydecide the ‘0’ and ‘1’ of the corresponding bit by using the codes ofthe soft decision value. 8 bits that are each decided as described aboveare grouped to create 1 data byte. If the above-described process isperformed on all soft decision values of the 18 data groups included ina single burst, the RS frame having the size of 540*235 bytes may beconfigured. Additionally, the present invention uses the soft decisionvalue not only to configure the RS frame but also to configure areliability map. Herein, the reliability map indicates the reliabilityof the corresponding data byte, which is configured by grouping 8 bits,the 8 bits being decided by the codes of the soft decision value.

For example, when the absolute value of the soft decision value exceedsa pre-determined threshold value, the value of the corresponding bit,which is decided by the code of the corresponding soft decision value,is determined to be reliable. Conversely, when the absolute value of thesoft decision value does not exceed the pre-determined threshold value,the value of the corresponding bit is determined to be unreliable.Thereafter, if even a single bit among the 8 bits, which are decided bythe codes of the soft decision value and group to configure 1 data byte,is determined to be unreliable, the corresponding data byte is marked onthe reliability map as an unreliable data byte.

Herein, determining the reliability of 1 data byte is only exemplary.More specifically, when a plurality of data bytes (e.g., at least 4 databytes) are determined to be unreliable, the corresponding data bytes mayalso be marked as unreliable data bytes within the reliability map.Conversely, when all of the data bits within the 1 data byte aredetermined to be reliable (i.e., when the absolute value of the softdecision values of all 8 bits included in the 1 data byte exceed thepredetermined threshold value), the corresponding data byte is marked tobe a reliable data byte on the reliability map. Similarly, when aplurality of data bytes (e.g., at least 4 data bytes) are determined tobe reliable, the corresponding data bytes may also be marked as reliabledata bytes within the reliability map. The numbers proposed in theabove-described example are merely exemplary and, therefore, do notlimit the scope or spirit of the present invention.

The process of configuring the RS frame and the process of configuringthe reliability map both using the soft decision value may be performedat the same time. Herein, the reliability information within thereliability map is in a one-to-one correspondence with each byte withinthe RS frame. For example, if a RS frame has the size of 540*235 bytes,the reliability map is also configured to have the size of 540*235bytes. FIG. 24( a′) illustrates the process steps of configuring thereliability map according to the present invention. Meanwhile, if a RSframe is configured to have the size of (N+2)*235 bytes, the RS framedecoder 926 performs a CRC syndrome checking process on thecorresponding RS frame, thereby verifying whether any error has occurredin each row. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 24( b), a 2-byte checksum isremoved to configure an RS frame having the size of N*235 bytes. Herein,the presence (or existence) of an error is indicated on an error flagcorresponding to each row. Similarly, since the portion of thereliability map corresponding to the CRC checksum has hardly anyapplicability, this portion is removed so that only N*235 number of thereliability information bytes remain, as shown in FIG. 24( b′).

After performing the CRC syndrome checking process, the RS frame decoder926 performs RS decoding in a column direction. Herein, a RS erasurecorrection process may be performed in accordance with the number of CRCerror flags. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 24( c), the CRC errorflag corresponding to each row within the RS frame is verified.Thereafter, the RS frame decoder 926 determines whether the number ofrows having a CRC error occurring therein is equal to or smaller thanthe maximum number of errors on which the RS erasure correction may beperformed, when performing the RS decoding process in a columndirection. The maximum number of errors corresponds to a number ofparity bytes inserted when performing the RS encoding process. In theembodiment of the present invention, it is assumed that 48 parity byteshave been added to each column.

If the number of rows having the CRC errors occurring therein is smallerthan or equal to the maximum number of errors (i.e., 48 errors accordingto this embodiment) that can be corrected by the RS erasure decodingprocess, a (235,187)-RS erasure decoding process is performed in acolumn direction on the RS frame having 235 N-byte rows, as shown inFIG. 24( d). Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 24( f), the 48-byte paritydata that have been added at the end of each column are removed.Conversely, however, if the number of rows having the CRC errorsoccurring therein is greater than the maximum number of errors (i.e., 48errors) that can be corrected by the RS erasure decoding process, the RSerasure decoding process cannot be performed. In this case, the errormay be corrected by performing a general RS decoding process. Inaddition, the reliability map, which has been created based upon thesoft decision value along with the RS frame, may be used to furtherenhance the error correction ability (or performance) of the presentinvention.

More specifically, the RS frame decoder 926 compares the absolute valueof the soft decision value of the block decoder 924 with thepre-determined threshold value, so as to determine the reliability ofthe bit value decided by the code of the corresponding soft decisionvalue. Also, 8 bits, each being determined by the code of the softdecision value, are grouped to form 1 data byte. Accordingly, thereliability information on this 1 data byte is indicated on thereliability map. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 24( e), even though aparticular row is determined to have an error occurring therein basedupon a CRC syndrome checking process on the particular row, the presentinvention does not assume that all bytes included in the row have errorsoccurring therein. The present invention refers to the reliabilityinformation of the reliability map and sets only the bytes that havebeen determined to be unreliable as erroneous bytes. In other words,with disregard to whether or not a CRC error exists within thecorresponding row, only the bytes that are determined to be unreliablebased upon the reliability map are set as erasure points.

According to another method, when it is determined that CRC errors areincluded in the corresponding row, based upon the result of the CRCsyndrome checking result, only the bytes that are determined by thereliability map to be unreliable are set as errors. More specifically,only the bytes corresponding to the row that is determined to haveerrors included therein and being determined to be unreliable based uponthe reliability information, are set as the erasure points. Thereafter,if the number of error points for each column is smaller than or equalto the maximum number of errors (i.e., 48 errors) that can be correctedby the RS erasure decoding process, an RS erasure decoding process isperformed on the corresponding column. Conversely, if the number oferror points for each column is greater than the maximum number oferrors (i.e., 48 errors) that can be corrected by the RS erasuredecoding process, a general decoding process is performed on thecorresponding column.

More specifically, if the number of rows having CRC errors includedtherein is greater than the maximum number of errors (i.e., 48 errors)that can be corrected by the RS erasure decoding process, either an RSerasure decoding process or a general RS decoding process is performedon a column that is decided based upon the reliability information ofthe reliability map, in accordance with the number of erasure pointswithin the corresponding column. For example, it is assumed that thenumber of rows having CRC errors included therein within the RS frame isgreater than 48. And, it is also assumed that the number of erasurepoints decided based upon the reliability information of the reliabilitymap is indicated as 40 erasure points in the first column and as 50erasure points in the second column. In this case, a (235,187)-RSerasure decoding process is performed on the first column.Alternatively, a (235,187)-RS decoding process is performed on thesecond column. When error correction decoding is performed on all columndirections within the RS frame by using the above-described process, the48-byte parity data which were added at the end of each column areremoved, as shown in FIG. 24( f).

As described above, even though the total number of CRC errorscorresponding to each row within the RS frame is greater than themaximum number of errors that can be corrected by the RS erasuredecoding process, when the number of bytes determined to have a lowreliability level, based upon the reliability information on thereliability map within a particular column, while performing errorcorrection decoding on the particular column. Herein, the differencebetween the general RS decoding process and the RS erasure decodingprocess is the number of errors that can be corrected. Morespecifically, when performing the general RS decoding process, thenumber of errors corresponding to half of the number of parity bytes(i.e., (number of parity bytes)/2) that are inserted during the RSencoding process may be error corrected (e.g., 24 errors may becorrected). Alternatively, when performing the RS erasure decodingprocess, the number of errors corresponding to the number of paritybytes that are inserted during the RS encoding process may be errorcorrected (e.g., 48 errors may be corrected).

After performing the error correction decoding process, as describedabove, a RS frame configured of 187 N-byte rows (or packets) maybeobtained, as shown in FIG. 24( f). Furthermore, the RS frame having thesize of N*187 bytes is sequentially outputted in N number of 187-byteunits. Herein, as shown in FIG. 24( g), the 1-byte MPEG synchronizationbyte that was removed by the transmitting system is added at the end ofeach 187-byte packet, thereby outputting 188-byte mobile service datapackets.

Embodiments illustrating application examples of the mobile service datapacket processed/generated from the above-mentioned reception systemwill hereinafter be described. The present invention will disclose amethod for extracting electronic program information from the PSI/PSIPinformation associated with the mobile service data formed by thedemultiplexed mobile service packet, and employing the extractedinformation.

FIG. 25 is a structural diagram illustrating a bit stream syntaxassociated with an Event Information Table (EIT) section includingelectronic program information according to the present invention. Atleast one EIT section forms a single EIT.

A method for defining electronic program information associated withmobile service data using the EIT section will hereinafter be describedwith reference to FIG. 25. The EIT provides detailed information of anevent contained in a virtual channel. The virtual channel is identifiedby a source identification field, and each event is identified by aunique identifier, such that the EIT provides the above-mentioneddetailed information.

The Event Information Table (EIT) is one of tables of the PSIP includinga title, start time, and duration of at least one event of the virtualchannel. As can be seen from FIG. 25, the EIT section includes aplurality of fields.

The “table_id” field is composed of 8 bits, and has the value of “0xCB”,such that a corresponding section belongs to the EIT.

The “section_syntax_indicator” field includes a single bit, and is setto the value of “1”.

The “private_indicator” field is composed of a single bit (i.e., a 1-bitfield), and is set to the value of “1”.

The “source_id” field is an identifier for identifying a virtual channelcarrying an event generated in a corresponding section.

The “version_number” field is an EIT entity version. In an embodiment ofthe present invention, event change information contained in an EITwhich has a new version number in association with a conventionalversion number is recognized as the latest change information.

The “current_next_indicator” field indicates whether event informationcontained in a corresponding EIT is current information or futureinformation.

The “num_event” field indicates the number of events contained in achannel having the above-mentioned source ID. Namely, an event loop islocated under the “num_event” field, and the event loop is repeatedseveral times corresponding to the number of events.

The above-mentioned EIT section field is commonly applied to at leastone event contained in a single EIT section.

The “for(j=0;j<num_events_in_section;j++){ }” loop describescharacteristics of individual events. The following fields are fieldsindicating detailed information of individual events. Therefore, thefollowing fields are individually applied to corresponding eventsdescribed in the EIT section.

The “event_id” field contained in the event loop identifies individualevents. Event ID's numerals are considered to be some parts of an event“ETM_ID” (identifier for event Extended Text Message).

The “start_time” field indicates a start time of an event. Therefore,program's start time information provided from electronic programinformation is collected from the “start time” field.

The “length_in_seconds” field indicates a duration time of an event.Therefore, program's end time information provided from electronicprogram information is collected from “length_in_seconds” field. Namely,a value of the “start_time” field and a value of the “length_in_seconds”field are summed up, such that the end time information can becollected.

The “title_text( )” field may be used to indicate a title of a broadcastprogram.

FIG. 26A is a structural diagram illustrating a syntax structureassociated with a table indicating current time information according tothe present invention. The present invention can use all kinds of tablesindicating current time information. However, for the convenience ofdescription, the present invention will use only a System Time Table(STT) as an example of the current time information table. The currenttime information is some parts of electronic program information, and isreceived as mobile service data packet according to the above-mentionedtransmission/reception (Tx/Rx) scheme.

The current time information receives/detects a table including currenttime information such as a System Time Table (STT). And, the currenttime may be entered by a user. In other words, a user may enter thecurrent time on the OSD, or the reception system detects the currenttime from the table including the current time information, andestablishes the detected current time.

In this case, there may be a difference between an absolute time (e.g.,Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) or Greenwich Sidereal Time (GST)) and aregional time. In this case, this difference may be corrected by a localtime. This regional type may be set in a broadcast receiver by a user.

In the case of the mobile broadcast receiver, a region may be frequentlychanged to another region. In this case, the user must newly establish aregion whenever a current region is changed to another region, resultingin greater inconvenience of use. Therefore, the present inventionincludes region information (or local time) in a table indicatingelectronic program information, and transmits the resultant table.

In this case, although the region information may be inserted into anytable including any table including the electronic program information,it is assumed that the region information contained in the STT istransmitted to the receiver, and the receiver receives this informationand establishes the local time. In this case, the absolute timeinformation and the region information may be transmitted on a singletable (See FIGS. 26A and 26B), and may also be transmitted using anadditional table (See FIG. 27) including only region information.

In FIG. 26A, the “table_id” field in the STT section is composed of 8bits, and has the value of “OxCD”. In this case, the receiver determinesthat a corresponding section belongs to a System Time Table (STT).

The “section_syntax_indicator” field includes a single bit, and is setto the value of “1”.

The “private_indicator” field is composed of a single bit (i.e., a 1-bitfield), and is set to the value of “1”.

The “current_next_indicator” field indicates whether time informationcontained in a corresponding sTT section is current information orfuture information.

The “system_time” field is composed of 32 bits, and indicates a currenttime in units of seconds from a Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) of areference time.

The “GPS_UTC_offset” field is composed of 8 bits, and indicates a valuefor correcting a difference between the GPS time and the UTC time.

The “Daylight_saving” field is composed of 16 bits, and determineswhether a daylight-saving time control is applied or not. And, the“Daylight_saving” field indicates a date and time at which thedaylight-saving time is applied.

The offset information from among the inventive regional information maybe contained in a reserved filed of the STT, or may be added as a newdescriptor to the reserved descriptor.

FIG. 26B is a structural diagram illustrating a local time offsetdescriptor syntax according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 26B, the local time offset descriptor corrects anoffset related to the absolute time, and indicates region informationfor establishing a local time for each reception (Rx) region.

The local time offset descriptor includes the “descriptor_tag” field andthe “descriptor_length” field. The “descriptor_tag” field identifies adescriptor in the STT, and the “descriptor_length” field indicates thelength of a local time descriptor.

The “for(i=0, i<N; i++){ }” loop indicates detailed region information.

The “country_code” field is composed of 24 bits, and identifiesindividual countries for receiving broadcast data according toindividual country code values.

The “country_region_id” field is composed of 6 bits, and different timesmay be applied to individual regions of a single country, so that the“country_region_id” field identifies a broadcast Rx region according toa country region ID field value.

The reserved field is composed of a single bit (i.e., 1 bit), and has nofunction for future use. In other words, if a specific value foridentifying a time must be added in the future, a corresponding valuemay be inserted into this reserved field.

The “local_time_offset” field is composed of 40 bits, and determines atime offset value from the UTC using the received country code and thereceived country region ID value.

The “local_time_offset_polarity” field is composed of a single bit (1bit), and determines a sign of the local time offset. In other words,the “local_time_offset_polarity” field indicates whether the offsetcorrection is positive (+) or negative (−) on the basis of the UTC.

The “time_of change” field is composed of 4 bits, and indicates a dateand time of the time change using the MJT and the UTC.

The “next_time_offset” field is composed of 16 bits. If the time changefrom the UTC occurs, the “next_time_offset” field indicates the nextoffset time.

In this case, the local time offset descriptor may include theabove-mentioned all fields, or may also include only a minimum number ofvalues required for correcting the local time. For example, if the localtime offset descriptor includes a country code field and a countryregion ID field, and is then transmitted to the receiver, the receivercan correct the local time offset on the condition that it hasrecognized a offset correction value of a region code.

And, if the local time offset descriptor does not transmit the countrycode field and the country region ID field, includes the local timeoffset field and the local time offset polarity field and the resultantthe local time offset descriptor is transmitted to the receiver, thereceiver can correct the local time using an offset value although itdoes not know detailed region information.

FIG. 27 is a structural diagram illustrating a syntax associated with aLocal Time Table (LTT) section according to the present invention. Inother words, region information including a local time may be containedas a descriptor type in the STT as shown in FIG. 26B, or may betransmitted to an additional table (e.g., LTT).

Referring to FIG. 27, the LTT section syntax selectively includes the“country_code” field, the “country_region_id” field, the“local_time_offset” field, and the “local_time_offset_polarity” field ofFIG. 26B. If necessary, the LTT section syntax may further include thereserved field.

The fields of FIG. 27 are the same as those of FIGS. 25 and 26B.

According to a method for detecting the PSIP information and displayingcurrent time information on the EPG, the present invention may combinestandard time information and region information set in the broadcastreceiver set, and may display the current time information on the EPGaccording to the combined result. Otherwise, the present inventionreceives the standard time information and the local time information atthe same time, and automatically combines/establishes a current timeaccording to a local time of a Rx region.

The receiver outputs the information collected from the table includingthe above-mentioned program information to various EPG ways. A varietyof EPG display formats will hereinafter be described with reference tothe annexed drawings. For the convenience of description and betterunderstanding of the present invention, the mobile service data isreferred to as a program.

FIG. 28 shows a display format of an Electronic Program Guide (EPG)according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 28, the EPG shows mobile service data broadcast from avirtual channel, i.e., time-flow information of an event. Informationdisplayed on the EOG is extracted from the table including theelectronic program information.

For example, FIG. 28 is a program schedule guide from 17:00 o'clock to04:00 o'clock of broadcast programs of four virtual channels (i.e.,minor channel Nos. “1”, “2”, “3”, and “100”) in a physical channel(i.e., a major channel No. 51).

The above-mentioned program schedule guide may also be called anelectronic program guide (EPG).

“1-A”, “1-B”, . . . , “1-E” indicate titles of programs to bebroadcasted from the “51-1” channel.

“2-A”, . . . , “3-D” indicate titles of programs of correspondingvirtual channels.

Referring to an upper left part of FIG. 28, a circle-end arrow indicatesa current time. As described above, the current time is collected andcontrolled.

Referring to an upper part of FIG. 28, a sharp-end arrow indicates atime zone of an event contained in a single EIT-k from among EIT-k(k=0˜127).

For example, 8 absolute times are contained in 24 hours of a day, i.e.,“0:00” o'clock, “3:00” o'clock, “6:00” o'clock, “9:00” o'clock, “12:00”o'clock, “15:00” o'clock, “18:00” o'clock, and “21:00” o'clock.

If a current time “17:19” o'clock is used as a reference time, abroadcast channel is “51-1” and “51-2”.

The above-mentioned channels are considered to be active virtualchannels. If a current time reaches 1:00 o'clock AM, there is nobroadcast program, so that the “51-1” channel is changed to an inactivechannel.

The “51-3” channel may be considered to be an inactive channel overwhich the “3-A” broadcast program will be broadcast from 19:00 o'clock.

In the meantime, empty spaces among the “3-A”, “3-B”, “3-C”, and “3-D”broadcast programs indicate advertisement broadcast program and others.

The “51-100” channel shows a data broadcast dedicated channel having noA/V data. The mobile service data includes A/V data and other servicedata, so that the A/V data and other information may be simultaneouslydisplayed on the EPG.

The aforementioned data on EPG is an event contained in the EIT of thePSIP, and may include a variety of information (e.g., event title data,event start time data, event duration data, caption data, and ratingdata)

As described above, the EPG includes a first zone on a horizontal axisand a second zone on a vertical axis. One of the horizontal and verticalaxes includes channel information, and the other one includes timeinformation. Program information is located at a crossing point betweenthe channel-information axis and the time-information axis.

The EPG may be displayed in various ways. For example, the EPG may bedisplayed in grid type, 8-days type, now-and-next type, and single typemethods. The above-mentioned display format modes may be changed asnecessary.

A predetermined transparency can be applied to an output mode of allwindows contained in a program guide. In other words, if a program guideis displayed while a user views a program, and the program guide isdisplayed on the display screen of the viewing program, the programguide is displayed on a semitransparent window, so that the user canview a background screen. In this case, the window's transparency may beadjusted by the user.

FIG. 29 shows an output format of an Electronic Program Guide (EPG)according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 29, the EPG has a two-dimensional structure composedof a horizontal axis and a vertical axis. One of the horizontal andvertical axes includes channel information, and the other one of thevertical axes includes time information. In this case, the channelinformation may be located on the vertical axis, and the timeinformation may be located on the horizontal axis, and vice versa. And,a title of a program which is received at a corresponding time of acorresponding channel is displayed at a crossing point between thehorizontal axis and the vertical axis.

In other words, several electronic program information units arereceived and stored in the memory. In association with several channels,program schedule information of individual time zones is configured inthe form of a list, and is then transmitted to the display. Theabove-mentioned description will be called a grid-type EPG.

The length of a cell at which the program title is located isproportional to the time. In other words, the program's start timeinformation and the program's end time information are collected, thecollected information is controlled to be displayed according to timeinformation on a time axis. According to the above-mentioned embodiment,the length of each cell at which the program title is located is changedaccording to individual programs. In the meantime, due to a shortduration of the program, the length of cell may be insufficient todisplay the program title. In this case, the program title may bedenoted by reducing a font size, only some parts of the program titlemay be denoted using an ellipsis ( . . . ), or scroll or direction keysare provided on the EPG, so that blind text data can be displayed on theEPG. And, a text sliding function may also be provided to theabove-mentioned grid-type EPG.

Next, embodiments of functions for use in the grid-type EPG willhereinafter be described. The following applicable functionsirrespective of EPG-type embodiments can also be applied to EPG formatsof other output types.

An input-type indication cell indicates that a current-selected inputsignal is one of various input types, for example, a TV signal, an audiosignal, a data signal, or a software update signal.

A channel list cell indicates at least one of a channel name, a channelname, and a channel logo, so that it indicates information of a channelon which a program title is loaded. The number of channels is at leastone. In this case, 7 channels can be simultaneously OSD-displayed on asingle display window. If the number of Rx channels is at least “7”, thegrid-type EPG may view the next channel information using either thescroll function or the page shift function.

The date cell indicates a date at which the program is received. In thiscase, the EPG may be composed of several dates. In this embodiment, theEPG may display program information of 8 days.

The program title cell displays titles of programs, which have beenreceived during a predetermined time in association with a predeterminedchannel. For example, the program title cell may display program titleinformation.

The time list provides reference time information indicating a programreception time. For example, the time list may be configured in units ofseconds, minutes, or hours. The EPG displayed on a single screen (i.e.,a single OSD) may display program information during a predeterminedtime.

The current time cell indicates a current time, and indicates currentdate- and time-information.

The current time indicator is an indicator for indicating a current timeon the time list. A program of a cell located at a time zone indicatedby the current time indicator can be currently displayed. Either areserved viewing or a reserved recording of a program of a cell locatedat a time list zone after the current time indicator can be madeavailable. In this case, prior to a time reserved for the viewing or therecording, the current time indicator may inform the user of a functionsetup method using the OSD, and may query the user whether to executethe function using the OSD.

A function key for receiving a signal from a user who selects a functioncapable of being provided will hereinafter be described. For theconvenience of description, the function key will hereinafter bereferred to as a user interface unit. If the user's selection signal isentered by the function key, a controller controls this entry user'sselection signal.

The user can select a variety of input types using an input-typeselection menu, for example, a TV broadcast signal, an audio broadcastsignal, a data broadcast signal, and a software upgrade signal. In thiscase, the TV broadcast signal may be displayed to identify a satellitesignal, a cable signal, and a terrestrial broadcast signal,respectively. Otherwise, the TV broadcast signal may be displayed asonly a TV broadcast signal irrespective of broadcast types. In otherwords, if the user selects a TV broadcast signal as an input type, theEPG outputs program information received as the TV broadcast signal. Ifthe user selects a data broadcast signal as an input type, the EPGoutputs program information received as the data broadcast signal.

The mode selection menu allows the user to freely select a desired onefrom among a plurality of embodiment modes based on various EPG outputformats. In other words, by the mode selection menu, the EPG displaymode is changed among grid type, 8-days type, now-and-next type, andsingle type methods. For example, if the user selects the single-typeEPG using the mode-selection menu while the EPG is being displayed inthe grid type, the EPG is displayed in the single type.

Also, a program title and a visual indicator are simultaneouslydisplayed on either the EPG display window or a program title cell, sothat the visual indicator may inform the user whether a predeterminedfunctions is established or not.

The visual indicator for indicating the above-mentioned establishedfunction or program characteristics can be implemented in the form ofall kinds of formats. The visual indicator must be distinguished fromother indicators in order to be easily recognized by the user. Namely,provided that several indicators can be distinguished in color whereasthey have the same shape, they may be used as different function setupindicators and may also be implemented in other shapes as necessary.

In this case, a variety of function setup indicators can be displayedaccording to this embodiment, for example, a reserved-viewing indicator(See “Reminder icon” in drawings), a reserved-recording indicator (See“Record icon” in drawings), and a recording-status indicator.

A variety of indicators can be displayed to indicate a program characteror program characteristics, for example, a pay-per-view (PPV) indicator,a series-program indicator, and a program-viewable age, and apreferred-channel indicator. The above-mentioned indicators have beendisclosed for only illustrative purposes, are designed to indicateprogram's characteristics, and are displayed as visual icons on the EPG.

An input-type icon for visually indicating the input type can be used,and a channel logo for visually identifying channels of a channel listcan be displayed.

The above-mentioned description may also be applied to the followingother EPG display formats.

FIG. 30 shows an output format of an Electronic Program Guide (EPG)according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 30, the EPG provides program information for 1 day,and also provides much more program information for several days. Inthis case, if the user sequentially moves the time list of FIG. 2, he orshe can view all of the program information of the several days.However, the user must directly scroll the time list until a time zoneof a desired date is displayed.

Therefore, in order to effectively control the above-mentionedoperation, the EPG can be displayed in the 8-days type (hereinafterreferred to as “8-days type EPG”). Namely, when the receiver receivesprogram information, stores the received program information, configuresthe stored program information in the form of an EPG, displays it on thescreen, program information of several days may be configured in theform of a single EPG. According to this embodiment, it is assumed thatprogram information of 8 days is displayed. However, it should be notedthat 8 days have been disclosed for only illustrative purposes, and oneor more days can also be used in this embodiment. For the convenience ofdescription and better understanding of the present invention, it isassumed that the several days are set to 8 days.

The 8-days type enables a user to select channel information, timeinformation, program title information, and several days provided fromthe EPG. Namely, a date tap for 8 days is displayed on the grid-typeEPG. So, if the user selects a desired date, a time zone moves toprogram information of the selected date.

The above-mentioned date tap enables the user to identify several daysprovided from the EPG, so that the user can select a desired day usingthe date tap. It should be noted that there is no limitation inidentification contents of the date tap. For example, the date tap canbe identified in different ways, for example, “Today 10 Apr”, “Wed 11Apr”, “Thur 12 Apr”, “Fri 13 Apr”, “Sat 14 Apr”, “Sun 15 Apr”, “Mon 16Apr”, “Tues 17 Apr”, as shown in FIG. 30.

In this case, if user-desired program information is tomorrow's programinformation, the user needs to select the date tap of “Wed 11 Apr”. Foranother example, the above-mentioned date tap may be implemented in“today”, “tomorrow”, or “the day after tomorrow” format or other formats“1, 2, 3 . . . ”, instead of directly indicating the date. In this way,the date tap can be implemented with all kinds of user-distinguishabletypes.

A method for implementing the EPG display format is as follows. Abroadcast receiver receives electronic program information, stores thereceived electronic program information, and displays programinformation, channel information, and time information on the screen. Ifa user moves a cursor, and selects a current-date-zone tap andother-date-zone tap, program information of the selected date zone isdisplayed.

FIG. 31 shows another output format of an Electronic Program Guide (EPG)according to another embodiment of the present invention.

In more detail, FIG. 31 shows an EPG display format which enables a userto easily select a time zone of a desired date, in a similar way to theabove-mentioned EPG display format of FIG. 30.

Referring to FIG. 31, the date cell of FIG. 29 includes at least one ofa scroll key, right and left keys, and up and down keys. In this case,the user may move a cursor using the scroll key, so that the date areamay be shifted.

In a method for implementing the EPG display format, the broadcastreceiver receives electronic program information, stores the receivedelectronic program information, and displays program information,channel information, and time information on the screen. If the usermoves a cursor to another location so that the date zone is changed, thebroadcast receiver outputs program information of the changed date zone.

FIG. 32 shows another output format of an Electronic Program Guide (EPG)according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 32, channel information and time information areconfigured in the form of a two-dimensional shape. A broadcast receiverdisplays program information on the EPG. In FIG. 32, a time axis of theEPG displays a current-receiving program (NOW) and a next-receivingprogram (NEXT). Therefore, for the convenience of description, this EPGdisplay format is referred to as a “now-and-next type”.

The now-and-next type displays title information of programs containedin the current- and next-time zones. The length of a cell indicating theprogram title is not proportional to the time. In brief, in the case ofthe now-and-next type, the EPG is displayed in only NOW and NEXT zones,irrespective of a program's duration time.

The above-mentioned EPG display format will hereinafter be described indetail. The broadcast receiver receives electronic program information,stores the received electronic program information, and displays theelectronic program information along with channel information and timeinformation on the screen. In this case, the time information does notindicate detailed time information, and indicates the presence orabsence of the next program of a current-receiving program.

FIG. 33 shows another output format of an Electronic Program Guide (EPG)according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 33, channel information and time information areconfigured in the form of a two-dimensional shape. The EPG displaysprogram information, and displays information of only one channel.Namely, differently from the grid-type EPG for displaying programinformation of several channels, the EPG of FIG. 33 displays informationof only one channel. For the convenience of description, this EPG ofFIG. 33 is called a single-type EPG.

A channel map for enabling a user to select several channels isdisplayed. If the user selects a single channel, the EPG displays only1-channel program information from among an overall time zone, the usermoves a cursor to No. 7 channel, only No. 7 channel's programinformation from among a total time zone is displayed.

In this case, if the user moves a cursor on the grid-type EPG displayformat of FIG. 29, and selects a specific program title, the single-typeEPG may be displayed in a channel including the selected program.

In a method for implementing the above-mentioned single-type EPG of FIG.33, the broadcast receiver receives electronic program information,stores the received electronic program information, displays the programinformation along with channel information and program title informationon the screen. In this case, if the user selects one of the displayedprogram titles using the cursor, a single-channel format EPG, whichincludes the row or column of a sequential program list including theselected title, is displayed.

In this case, the horizontal axis and the vertical axis of a2-dimensional (2D) shape may be a time area and a channel area,respectively. In this case, the horizontal axis or the vertical axis maybe changed according to a screen ratio. For example, in the case of abroadcast receiver equipped with a display on which a vertical length islonger than horizontal axis, the vertical axis may be set to the channelarea, and the horizontal axis may be set to the time area. In thisembodiment, data of a display including a larger-sized time area may bedisplayed on a single screen.

The above-mentioned embodiment has been disclosed for only illustrativepurposes, the opposite embodiments can also be made available. Namely,in the above-mentioned embodiment, a single channel area becomes longer,detailed program title information of a program assigned to apredetermined time area may be displayed on a single screen.

If a pivot function is executed in the above-mentioned 2D structure, therow and column are changeable as shown in FIGS. 34A and 34B, so that thehorizontal and vertical areas can be configured.

FIGS. 34A and 34B show two-dimensional pivot functions according to anembodiment of the present invention.

Referring to 34A, the horizontal axis is set to a single channel area,and the vertical axis is set to a time area, so that program informationof a long time area is displayed on a single screen. In this case, iftitle information of the program becomes longer, the long titleinformation is not displayed on the screen, and the user must scroll thescreen using a scroll- or direction-key. In this case, during thedisplay time of a short time area, the user may desire to output programtitle information on a single screen. In this case, the pivot functionmay be executed, so that the vertical- and horizontal-configurations arerotated on the basis of a predetermined axis, so that the horizontal andvertical screen configurations are changed. Namely, referring to FIG.34, a first side and a second side may be a channel area and a timearea, respectively. The channel area and the time area are rotated onthe basis of a predetermined axis, and the first and second sides aredifferently configured, such that the EPG screen display can becontrolled. In this case, if the pivot function of the first and secondsides is executed, the first-side's area and the second-side's area aremaintained but the ratio of the first side to the second side may bechanged to another ratio. And, another embodiment in which not only thelength ratio but also the first= and second-sides' areas area arechanged, can also be made available.

Referring to FIG. 34B, the first-side's screen configuration and thesecond-side's screen configuration on the EPG display format of FIG. 34a are changed to others, such that that the first-side's areaconfiguration and the second-side's area configuration are changed toother configurations.

The first side of FIG. 34A has been assigned to a channel area, and thesecond side of FIG. 34A has been assigned to a time area, such thatprogram information has been displayed. In FIG. 34B, the second side isassigned to a channel area, and the first side is assigned to the timearea, so that program title information of a longer area is displayed ona single screen.

A method for controlling the storing of mobile service data willhereinafter be described.

There are a variety of methods for storing mobile service data, forexample, an immediate-record mode and a reserved-record mode. During theimmediate-record mode, currently-received mobile service data is stored.During the reserved-record mode, mobile service data to be receivedafter the current time is stored.

At the immediate-record mode, the recording of the currently-receivedmobile service data is established. Although the record beginning timepoint is set to a time before the current time, the immediate-recordmode is established.

There are a variety of methods for controlling the storing of mobileservice data, for example, a record setup method on a program guide, amethod for allowing the user to directly enter a record object and arecord time on the manual, and an one-touch recording method. By thisone-touch recording method, currently-displayed mobile service data isrecorded by a single integrated signal.

For the convenience of description and better understanding of thepresent invention, the term “mobile service data” has the same meaningas that of the term “program”. Namely, it should be noted that the term“program” includes all kinds of data contained in the mobile servicedata.

In the present invention, the storing of the mobile service data isreferred to as “Record”.

FIG. 35A is a flow chart illustrating a method for establishing astoring of mobile service data according to the present invention.

The storing setup method for mobile service data displays a programguide of the mobile service data, receives a selection signal of aprogram to be recorded on the displayed program guide, and establishesthe recording of the selected program.

If the program guide output of mobile service data is requested, theprogram guide is displayed on the screen.

The output process and the output format of the program guide have beendisclosed in FIG. 25 to FIG. 34B.

At the step for receiving the program selection signal on the programguide, information specifying a predetermined program is selected by theuser on the program guide. The specifying information of thepredetermined program may be all kinds of information capable ofspecifying a program to be stored, for example, a title, a reception(Rx) channel, time information, and a program unique number.

In this case, the selection signal can be entered in various ways. Forexample, if a cursor moves to a program title cell on the program guide,and a corresponding program title cell is highlighted, this conditionmay be considered that the selection signal has been entered. If afunction selection key of a predetermined program title has beenentered, this condition may be considered that the selection signal hasbeen entered.

At the record setup step of the selected program, the record isestablished using the specifying information of the selected program. Inthis case, the program-specifying information is a program title,program Rx-channel information, and time information. The timeinformation may be start time and end time information, start timeinformation and duration time information.

The aforementioned record setup method will hereinafter be describedwith reference to FIG. 35A.

If a program guide is displayed at step S3501, the user selects aprogram title to be recorded on the program guide at step S3502. And,the user selects a record command for the selected program at stepS3503.

In this case, if the user selects currently-received broadcast data,this operation corresponds to the immediate-record mode. If the userselects the following Rx broadcast data after the current time, thisoperation corresponds to the reserved-record mode.

The record-command input method may be implemented in various ways. Ifthe user selects a desired program title, a record command may beautomatically entered, or a record-command selection key is displayed.So, if the record command or the selection key is selected, thereception system determines whether the program can be recorded at stepS3504.

If the program can be recorded, the reception system goes to the nextstep. If the program cannot be recorded, the reception system displaysan information message at step S3505.

For example, the reception system determines the presence or absence ofa predetermined record program. Namely, the reception system determineswhether the record time overlaps with that of another program which hasalready been determined as a record program. In the case of theoverlapped record setup, the system outputs an information message forindicating a non-recordable status. Otherwise, if the same programexists in another time zone, associated information message may bedisplayed. If associated program exists instead of the same program, aninformation message is displayed, so that the system can perform thereserved recording.

The system determines a storage space. If the space less than apredetermined amount remains in the storage space, a warning message maybe displayed. If the reserved recording is established, and the spacefor storing the reserved-record setup program is insufficient, thesystem may display an information message for indicating anon-recordable status. In this case, the space for storing the programis determined by a quality and duration of the received mobile servicedata. In this case, for example, provided that the received mobileservice data can be stored in the storage space on the condition thatthe quality of the program to be recorded has been reduced from “HD”grade to “SD” grade, the system displays an information messageindicating the above-mentioned situation. In this case, the system maydisplay a user interface (UI) for receiving an image-quality adjustingsignal.

If the record command is entered, the system determines the presence orabsence of a program associated with the selected program at step S3506.

The above-mentioned program associated with the selected program is aseries of the same-category programs, a multi-program, and a recommendedprogram. In the multi-program, the same programs are separated from eachother and then received. The recommended program is displayed along withthe selected program. In addition to the above-mentioned examples,associated program includes all the programs associated with theselected program.

If the presence of the associated program is decided, the systemprovides the record option of the associated program at step S3507.Namely, as the associated-program record option, the system may displaythe user interface (UI) for allowing the user to select the recording ofthe associated program.

By the user interface (UI), the user can set the associated program toan object to be recorded.

If there is no associated program, the system generatesprogram-specifying information of the selected program after the userhas decided whether to record the associated program, and stores theprogram-specifying information at step S3508. The program-specifyinginformation may be program-reception-channel information andprogram-reception-time information. The time information may be startand end time information, or start time information and duration timeinformation.

In this case, besides the program-specifying information,program-associated information may be established at step S3509. Forexample, title information, genre information, rating information, andsynopsis information may be established at step S3509.

If the record setup is completed, the system displays a specific statusindicating whether the record is established on the program guide atstep S3510. In this case, the record setup On/Off status may berepresented by visual indicators. The visual indicators are differentlyrepresented according to the recording setup information, e.g., theindependent recording, the series recording, and the repeat-periodsetup.

FIG. 35B shows an exemplary record setup image displayed on a programguide according to the present invention.

FIG. 36A is a flow chart illustrating a method for establishing thestoring of mobile service data according to another embodiment of thepresent invention.

The storing setup method for the mobile service data receives amanual-record setup command, receives program-specifying information,and stores the program-specifying information.

At the step of receiving the manual-record setup command, the systemoutputs a record-function window for setting the record function at stepS3601.

Upon receiving the manual-record setup command, the system outputs auser interface (UI) for entering a user signal. By the user interface(UI), the user can enter the program-specifying information at stepS3602.

The program-specifying information may be a program title, a programunique number, program Rx channel information, time information, etc. Inthis case, the time information may be start time information and endtime information, or start time information and duration timeinformation.

The program-specifying information may be entered by a character inputboard, a touchscreen, a video keyboard, or a remote-controller. Besides,all kinds of methods for allowing the user to enter a signal in thereceiver can also be made available for the present invention.

The system stores the specified information, so that it completes therecord setup process at step S3603.

FIG. 36B shows another record setup image displayed on a program guideaccording to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 37A is a flow chart illustrating a method for establishing thestoring of mobile service data according to another embodiment of thepresent invention.

The storing setup method for the mobile service data receives aone-touch record command while a user views a program, specifies theprogram currently provided to the user, and stores theprogram-specifying information.

While displaying the current Rx program at step S3701, the one-touchrecord command is entered at step S3702.

The one-touch recording is used to record a current output program whenthe user selects the record function once.

If the one-touch record command is entered, the current-viewed programis specified.

Therefore, the user can record the record function by entering the keysignal once. The system serving as the broadcast receiver can store thecurrently-viewed program as a record object. The program-specifyinginformation may be a program title, a program unique number, program Rxchannel information, and time information. In this case, the timeinformation may be start time information and end time information, orstart time information and duration time information.

A channel including the currently-viewed program is set to the recordchannel at step S3703.

Time information is also established along with the channel information.

A current time is set to a record start time at step S3704, and a recordend time is also set at step S3705.

The record end time may be edited during the recording time. Forexample, although a predetermined time is set as a default time to arecord end time, the user can edit a desired end time during therecording time as necessary. Although the current program end time isset to the record end time, the user can edit a desired end time duringthe recording time as necessary.

In this case, the record end time may be set to a specific time afterthe lapse of a predetermined time. The end time of a correspondingprogram may also be set to a record end time. If required, the recordend time may not be established, and the recording may continue untilthe user's record end time is entered.

In this case, besides the program-specifying information, a variety ofprogram information (e.g., title, genre, rating, andsynopsis-information of the program) may also be stored in the system atstep S3706.

The record setup concept may be changed to another concept via the setupwindow of FIG. 36B.

FIG. 37B shows a manual-record setup image displayed on a program guideaccording to another embodiment of the present invention. For example,the record end time may be selected from . . . −60, −30, −10, 0, +10,+30, +60 . . . by the user.

FIG. 38A is a flow chart illustrating a method for changing the recordsetup concept of the program of FIG. 35A to FIG. 37A. FIG. 38B shows thedisplay view of the reserved recording list.

Referring to FIG. 38A and FIG. 38B, a method for changing the recordsetup concept on the reserved-record list will hereinafter be described.

The reception system outputs the reserved-record list at step S3801. Thereserved-record list is indicative of the record-object program whichhas not been completely recorded irrespective of the record time.Namely, the reserved-record list is indicative of a current-recordingprogram or the list of programs to be recorded after the lapse of acurrent time. If the recording is established on the program guide andthe recording for each program title is established, the recordingobject may be specified as the program title on the reserved-recordinglist. If the manual-recording is established by the user on the basis oftime information, a specific object may be specified as channelinformation and time information on the reserved-record list.

A signal for selecting the program to be edited is entered on thedisplayed reserved-record list at step S3802. In this case, theedit-object program is indicative of a record object which is specifiedby either a program title or channel- and time-information. The recordobject specified by channel- and time-information may also be specifiedby the program title.

At the step of receiving the program selection signal, a predeterminedprogram title is selected by the user on the reserved-record list. Inthis case, the selection signal may be entered in various ways. Forexample, if a cursor moves to a program title cell on the EPG, and acorresponding program title cell is highlighted, this condition may beconsidered that the selection signal has been entered. If a functionselection key of a predetermined program title has been entered, thiscondition may be considered that the selection signal has been entered.The above-mentioned examples have been disclosed for only illustrativepurposes, and other units for selecting the program to be edited canalso be applied to the present invention.

If the record setup concept of the selected program is changed, thereception system stores the changed record setup concept at step S3803.

By the record setup change, the specifying information of the recordobject is changed. For example, time information of the record-setupobject is maintained, but only channel information is changed. Foranother example, channel information of the record object is maintained,but the time information is changed. Besides, channel information andtime information of the record object may be changed.

For another example, the system outputs the user interface (UI) whichallows the user to enter a user signal for changing a record setup. Bythe user interface (UI), the user can change the program-specifyinginformation.

The change of the program-specifying information may be entered by acharacter input board, a touchscreen, video keyboard, or aremote-controller. Besides, all kinds of methods for allowing the userto enter a signal in the receiver can also be made available for thepresent invention.

FIG. 39 shows a storage capacity capable of being stored in a storagespace according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 39, the reception system (i.e., the receiver) checks acapacity of storage space storing mobile service data, and may informthe user of the checked storage capacity.

In a first embodiment for displaying storable capacity, a total figureindicating a total storage space is divided into a pre-used part and astorable part, so that the pre-used part and the storable part can bevisually depicted as shown in FIG. 39. In this case, the figure may be aplane figure or a solid figure, and both of them.

In a second embodiment for displaying storable capacity, a total storagespace, the pre-used storage part, or the storage part may be denoted inunits of capacity. In this case, the total storable capacity, thepre-used storage space, or the storable capacity can be selectivelyrepresented. In this case, in order to allow the user to recognize thestorable capacity, a variety of combinations can be used to representthe storage capacity.

In a third embodiment for displaying storable capacity, the totalstorage space and the storable space can be indicated in units of time.In this case, a time for the total storage space can be selectivelyindicated. The storable time may be changed to another time according tothe record quality. For example, if the image quality is set to “HD”grade, data for 75 hours can be stored. If the image quality is set to“SD” grade, data for 100 hours can be stored. The system outputs theabove-mentioned HD and SD recording information, and the user selects adesired recording quality, such that the storage space can beeffectively used.

In a fourth embodiment for displaying storable capacity, the totalstorage space, the pre-used storage space, or the storage space can bedenoted by percentages. In this case, the capacity-percentages arecombined with each other, the combined result is selectively displayedon the system, such that the user can easily recognize the storablespace.

FIG. 40 is a flow chart illustrating a method for changing a recordquality of a record setup program according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 40, after the record has been established at stepS4001, the system determines whether a recording quality is changed ornot at step S4002.

In order to determine whether the recording quality is changed, thesystem determines whether the user enters a record-quality changeselection signal, a record-quality change is pre-established, or arecording space is insufficient.

The user's record-quality change selection signal may be entered by theuser interface (UI) for record-quality change selection. In order toeffectively use the storage space, the user may select the recordingquality.

If the record-quality change is pre-set or pre-established, a currentdefault program to be recorded is not determined by the user, and therecord qualities of all programs stored in the receiver arepre-established. This condition is considered to be the pre-setting ofthe record-quality change.

For example, the record quality may be different in genre-, channel-,time zone-, or specific program-information.

In order to change the recording quality to another quality inassociation with the record space, the system considers the programduration time and the record quality at the record setup mode. If it isdetermined that the remaining capacity is insufficient, the systemoutputs a warning message indicating a non-recordable status and cancelsthe record setup mode. In the case of changing the record quality, ifdata can be stored in the remaining capacity, the record quality ischanged to another quality, so that the data may be stored at thechanged record quality.

In addition to the above-mentioned embodiments, the present inventioncan determine whether an event capable of changing the record quality toanother quality exists or not.

If it is determined that the event for changing the record quality hasoccurred at step S4002, the system changes the record quality to anotherquality at step S4004.

The system stores the program at the changed record quality at stepS4005.

If there is no need to change the record quality, the system stores therecord-setup program at step S4005.

FIG. 41A is a flow chart illustrating a method for recording the recordsetup program according to the present invention.

A method for executing/completing the recording will hereinafter bedescribed with reference to FIG. 41A.

The system compares a record start time with a current time at stepS4001, such that it determines whether the recording will begin at therecord start time.

If the record start time is set to a specific time after the lapse ofthe current time, the recording is not executed. If the record starttime is earlier than or equal to the current time, the system determineswhether the record module is switched off at step S4102.

If it is determined that the record module is switched off, the systemstarts recording the program at step S4104.

If the record module is switched off, the record module is switched onat step S4103, and starts recording the program at step S4104.

IF the recording begins, a index table for pictures for each program canbe generated. By the generation of index table, boundaries of individualpictures to be stored are established. If any index is assigned to eachpicture, the system can easily move to a specific part when the storedprogram is reproduced, and a shorter time delay occurs. Also, if anyindex is assigned to each picture, an X-speed play or X-speed playback(including a quick play mode or a slow play mode) can be easilyexecuted.

The index table may include at least one of picture-type information,frame ID information, and offset information.

The picture-type information may indicate a picture category or apicture type. For example, the picture-type information may be anI-picture, a B-picture, and a P-picture.

The frame ID information may indicate the order of a correspondingpicture in all the stored pictures.

The offset information is either a first position of a single storedprogram file or a distance from a start position of a correspondingsegment to a corresponding picture. In this case, the above distance maybe indicated by time units, capacity units, physical positioninformation of a storage medium, or logical position information of thestorage medium.

The index table includes at least one of “frame_num”, “field_pic_flag”,“bottom_field_field”, “Picture Order Count (POC)”, “nal_ref_idc”, “IDRidentifier”, and “Access Unit (AU) delimiter”. The “frame_num” indicatesa frame number. The “field_pic_flag” indicates whether a picture is aframe picture or a field picture. The “bottom_field_field” indicateswhether a field is an upper field or a lower field. The “Picture OrderCount (POC)” indicates an output order. The “nal_ref_idc” indicates areference picture.

While the recording begins and progresses favorably, the record endcommand may be entered, or the system determines whether a current timereaches the record end time at step S4105.

If the record end command may be entered or the current time reaches therecord end time, the recording is terminated at step S4106.

FIG. 41B shows a storage unit according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 41B, the storage unit includes a download buffer 1010,a large-capacity storage unit 1030, and an upload buffer 1020. Thedownload buffer 1010 temporarily stores input data. The large-capacitystorage medium 1030 stores input data. The upload buffer 1020temporarily stores data therein.

In this case, the download buffer 1010 temporarily stores at least onesegment, transfers data to the large-capacity storage medium 1030, andstores the data in the large-capacity storage medium 1030.

When reproducing the stored data, the upload buffer 1020 temporarilystores data while the stored data is outputted to the large-capacitystorage medium 1030, and outputs the stored data.

If data is temporarily stored in the download buffer 1010 and the uploadbuffer 1020 during the storing/reproducing time of data, a differencebetween the Tx/Rx times of data or a difference in speed between Tx/Rxdata flows can be compensated.

FIG. 42A is a flow chart illustrating a method for controlling thestoring of multi-input signals according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 42A, the reception system receives a first signal atstep S4201, starts displaying the first signal at step S4202, receives asecond signal at step S4203, and outputs the second signal at stepS4204. In this case, the second signal and the first signal may besimultaneously displayed.

The reception system receives a first signal at step S4201, startsdisplaying the first signal at step S4202, receives a second signal atstep S4203, and stores the second signal at step S4204. In this case,the second signal and the first signal may be simultaneously stored anddisplayed.

The reception system receives a first signal at step S4201, begins tostore the first signal at step S4202, receives a second signal at stepS4203, and outputs the second signal at step S4204. In this case, thesecond signal and the first signal may be simultaneously stored anddisplayed.

The reception system receives a first signal at step S4201, begins tostore the first signal at step S4202, receives a second signal at stepS4203, and stores the second signal at step S4204. In this case, thesecond signal and the first signal may be simultaneously stored anddisplayed.

At least one of the first signal and the second signal may correspond tomobile service data. This mobile service data is formed by theadditional coding at a transmission end.

The first signal or the second signal may be a communication signal. Forexample, a video phone communication signal, or a wireless Internetcommunication signal may be used as the above communication signal.Namely, the present invention can simultaneously display or store inputsignals from multi-sources. In this case, the multi-sources may bereceived in source-input modules. The above-mentioned source inputmodule may be a mobile communication module, a mobile service data Rxmodule, a wireless Internet module, or a satellite Rx module, etc. Theseexamples have been disclosed for only illustrative purposes, the scopeof the present invention may not be limited to only the above-mentionedexamples, and can also be applied to other examples as necessary.

In this case, the first signal and the second signal can besimultaneously displayed or stored along with information associatedwith a corresponding signal.

FIG. 42B shows an exemplary image for simultaneously displaying a firstsignal and a second signal according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 42B, mobile service data and associated informationcan be simultaneously displayed, and at the same time a video phoneimage and its associated information are displayed.

Upon receiving several kinds of signals from multi-sources, the receivedsignals are integrated on a single program guide, so that the integratedprogram guide for the integrated multi-source signals is displayed. Theuser can control the displaying or storing of the multi-sources on theintegrated program guide.

A method for displaying the integrated program guide for multi-sourceinput signals will hereinafter be described.

FIG. 43 shows an example of the merging of electronic programinformation of multi-sources according to the present invention.

In FIG. 43, electronic program information of multi-sources receivedfrom the mobile service data receiver is merged, so that the mergedresult is displayed as a single program guide.

The reception system for receiving the hybrid source signal can receivemobile service data over the broadcast network, and can receive aprogram signal via several input sources (e.g., a satellite network, amobile Internet network, and mobile communication network). The programinformation associated with the mobile service data can be received viathe several input sources. In this case, if information of Rx-programinformation received via the several sources is merged so that themerged result is provided on a single program guide, the user can moreconveniently select the program.

Referring to FIG. 43, the mobile hybrid source signal receiving unitaccording to the present invention further includes at least two sourceinput modules and a source-integrated program information generator. Thesource-integrated program information generator merges at least twosource input module with program information received from at least twosource input modules, so that it outputs the integrated source programinformation.

The above-mentioned source input module may be a mobile communicationmodule, a mobile service data Rx module, a wireless Internet module, ora satellite Rx module, etc.

The source input module may be one of a mobile communication module, amobile service data reception (Rx) module, a wireless Internet module,or a satellite Rx module. These examples have been disclosed for onlyillustrative purposes, the scope of the present invention may not belimited to only the above-mentioned examples.

The mobile hybrid source signal receiving unit includes a first sourceinput module to an n-th source input module.

The source integrated program information generator 4320 integrates theprogram information received in the source input module 4310, so that itoutputs the integrated source program information.

In this case, the source integrated program information generator 4320integrates the program information received in the source input module4310, so that it outputs the integrated source program information.

In this case, the source integrated program information generator 4320assigns an identifier for identifying a source type to correspondingprogram information, so that different input signals can bedistinguished from each other. Also, source information of the programinformation is extracted so that a source type can be discriminated.

FIG. 44A and FIG. 44B show output views of the integrated source programinformation according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 44A, in association with currently-received programinformation, information for identifying a source type and a programlist information are displayed. In this case, the display format may beconfigured in the form of a general program guide.

Referring to FIG. 44B, program information of integrated sources ismerged with each other, the merged result is displayed on a singleprogram guide, and only program list information associated with aninput source is activated. Namely, if the program information of thesingle source is displayed, and a user selects other sources, theprogram information of the selected source is displayed.

FIG. 45 is a flow chart illustrating a method for recording the receivedprogram according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 45, a method for recording the program in a storageunit (or a storage medium) will hereinafter be described.

According to the above method for recording the program, the receptionsystem receives the program, connects the program to a storage medium,and stores the received program in the storage medium. In this case, thereceived program format is changed to another format, so that theprogram based on the changed format may be stored in the storage medium.If the storage medium of the stored program is changed, the storagemedium may also be changed to another storage medium.

Namely, the reception system receives a program to be recorded at stepS4501.

The reception system connects the received program to the storage mediumat step S4502. In this case, the reception system may receive theprogram on the condition that it is connected to the storage medium.Namely, the program Rx time and the storage-medium connection time maynot be interrupted before or after the above connection point.

The above-mentioned storage medium may be an internal storage medium oran external storage medium.

The external storage medium may be connected to the reception system viaeither a peripheral-device connection interface or a network protocol.In this case, the network protocol may be a communication module or awireless Internet module.

The external storage medium connected to the system may be an externalmemory or a network server. For example, a DVD player or a PC may beused as the external memory.

The reception system may change the format of the received program toanother format at step 4503. This format indicates a method forconstructing data while data is stored or transferred. In other words,when the received program is stored in an external storage medium and astorage medium is changed to another storage medium, the input format ofthe storage medium or the program format must be changed to anotherformat suitable for the storage format. If the program is stored in anetwork server over a network, the format must be changed to a networkprotocol format.

The reception system stores the program in the storage medium at stepS4504.

FIG. 46A is a flow chart illustrating a method for recording thereceived program according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 46A, a method for pausing the recording mode duringthe program recording time will hereinafter be described.

During the recording time, the user may desire to pause the recording.For example, if an advertisement message is displayed during the programrecording time, the user may desire to exclude the advertisement messagefrom the recorded data of the program. In this case, if the recording isinterrupted, the display of the advertisement message is completed, andthe program recording begins again, the file may be divisionally stored,such that a function for temporarily halting the recording (i.e.,“Record-Pause” function) can be effectively used. By this Record-Pausefunction, an overall program can be recorded in a single file.

The program recording method according to the present invention receivesthe program, records the received program, and receives a record-pausesignal.

The reception system receives a program to be recorded at step S4601,and records the received program in a storage medium at step S4602.

During the recording time of the program, the reception systemdetermines whether the record-pause selection signal is entered at stepS4604. If the record-pause selection signal has been entered at stepS4604, the reception system pauses the recording at step S4605.

The record-pause selection signal is used to pause the programrecording, and is different from a record-stop command by which thestoring of a single program file is completed. Namely, if the userenters the record-pause command, the reception system stops the programrecording at a pause mode, and continues to record the program on thecondition that the pause mode has been released. Therefore, the programstored before or after the record-pause selection signal is completed inthe form of a single record file.

Namely, the reception system determines whether a release event of therecord-pause command has occurred at step S4606. If the release event ofthe record-pause command has occurred, the reception system continues torecord the program.

When a record command is re-entered or the record-pause release commandis entered, the aforementioned record-pause release event is activated.And, if the record end command is entered during the record-pause mode,the reception system stops the recording without further recording dataof the program.

Namely, if the record end event occurs at step S4603, the receptionsystem completes or terminates the above program recording.

FIG. 46B shows an exemplary storage file formed by a record-pausefunction of FIG. 46A according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 46B, the program recording is executed by a recordcommand, and a record-pause selection signal is entered at apredetermined time. After the lapse of a predetermined time, thereception system releases the record-pause mode, records again theprogram, and completes the program recording.

For example, the range from a record start time to an entry point of arecord-pause selection signal is denoted by a first part (Part 1), arecord-pause section is denoted by a second part (Part 2), and the rangefrom the record-pause release time to the record end time is denoted bya third part (Part 3).

In this case, the recording is completed so that the recording file isformed. In this recording file, the first part (Part 1) and a third part(Part 3) are integrated into a single file.

The record editing function for the recorded mobile service data willhereinafter be described.

After finishing the program recording, the reception system can editsome parts of the recorded mobile service data. If the recording iscompleted, the completed result is stored as a single file. In thiscase, if the user desires to store only some parts of a single file anddesires to delete the remaining parts other than the above parts, if theuser desires to divide a single file into several files, or if the userdesires to edit several files in the form of a single file and store thesingle file, the reception system can perform the above-mentionedoperation that some parts of the recorded mobile service data areedited.

The method for editing the recorded program according to the presentinvention receives the received program, establishes the editing sectionin the stored program, and executes the editing operation within theestablished editing section.

The above-mentioned editing operation may be a deletion, a filedivision, a file merging, etc., such that the edited file is differentfrom an original file.

There are a variety of methods for establishing the editing section, forexample, 1) a method for reproducing the stored program simultaneouslywhile directly establishing the editing section; 2) a method forestablishing the editing section by entering time information; 3) amethod for establishing the editing section in units of a program on thecondition that several programs are stored in a single file; and 4) amethod for establishing a bookmark editing section using a bookmark.

According to the above-mentioned method 1), the editing section may beestablished by the user during the program playback process. The usermoves a position indicator on the progress bar of the progress-statusindication cell, so that the editing section is established. And, thetime information is entered on the time-information cell, so that theediting section is established.

If the editing selection signal is entered on the record list, or if theediting selection signal is entered while the program is reproduced, thetime input window is displayed, so that the user can enter a desiredediting time and the editing section is established.

If several programs are recorded in a single file, the reception systemmakes a distinction in programs using a program-identifying indicator,such that the editing section for each program is established.

The bookmark may be established in a predetermined section by a user ora control signal of the controller contained in the reception system.The bookmark is used to establish a predetermined position at the storedprogram. Therefore, the reception system may establish the editingsection using the bookmark on the recording list, or may also establishthe editing section using the bookmark during the program playback time.

The above-mentioned editing section setup methods can be independentlyexecuted or can also be combined with each other. The above-mentionedediting-section setup method is applied to the following embodiment.

FIG. 47A to FIG. 50B show a variety of embodiments of the editingfunction according to the present invention.

FIG. 47A is a flow chart illustrating a method for editing the recordedprogram file according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 47A, the method for recording the recorded programfile according to the present invention stores the received program,establishes the editing section in the stored program, and deletes theestablished editing section.

The reception system receives the program at step S4701, and stores thereceived program at step S4702.

In this case, if several programs are stored, the reception systemselects a program to be edited from among the several programs at stepS4703. The reception system may select a program to be edited from amongthe stored list.

The editing section is established in the selected program at stepS4704, so that a deletion part to be deleted is determined.

The editing section decided as the deletion part is deleted and then thefile is reconstructed at step S4705.

If the editing end event occurs at step s4706, the editing process iscompleted. The editing end event is activated, when the editing endcommand is entered or a predetermined time elapses.

FIG. 47B shows the stored file formed by the record-editing function ofFIG. 47A.

Referring to FIG. 47B, the range from a record start time to a deletionstart position is denoted by a first part (Part 1), the range from thedeletion start position to the deletion end position is denoted by asecond part (Part 2), and the range from the deletion end position tothe record end position is denoted by a third part (Part 3).

In this case, the resultant record file newly formed by the editingincludes the first part (Part 1) and the third part (Part 3). It shouldbe noted that the first part (Part 1) and the third part (Part 3) areintegrated into a single file.

FIG. 48A is a flow chart illustrating a method for editing the recordedprogram file according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 48A, the editing method for the recorded program filestores the received program, establishes a file division position in thestored program, and performs file division at the file divisionposition.

The reception system receives the program at step S4801, and stores thereceived program at step S4802.

If several programs are stored, the reception system selects a programto be edited from among the several programs. In this case, a program tobe edited may be selected from the stored list.

At the establishing step of the file division position in the storedprogram, a specific division position at which a single file is dividedinto several files is decided. In this case, the file may be dividedinto several units, so that the number of file division positions may beat least two.

The reception system performs file division at the above file divisionposition, and reconstructs the file at step S4805.

A new name is assigned to the divided file, and is stored at step S4806.

FIG. 48B shows the stored file formed by the record-editing function ofFIG. 48A.

Referring to FIG. 48B, the range from a record start time to the filedivision position is denoted by a first part (Part 1), and the rangefrom the file division position to the record end is denoted by a secondpart (Part 2).

In this case, if the file division edition function is executed, a firstfile 1 composed of the first and second parts (Part1 and Part2) isdivided into a second file 2 composed of the first part (Part1) and athird file 3 composed of the second part (Part2).

FIG. 49A is a flow chart illustrating a method for editing the recordedprogram file according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 49A, the editing method for the recorded program filestores the received program, establishes an editing section in thestored program, and deletes the remaining sections other than theediting section.

The reception system receives the program at step S4901, and stores thereceived program at step S4902.

If several programs are stored, the reception system selects a programto be edited from among the several programs. In this case, a program tobe edited may be selected from the stored list.

At the establishing step S4904 of the editing section in the selectedprogram, a specific editing part serving as a storing-maintenance partis decided.

The reception system deletes the remaining parts other than the editingsection serving as the storing-maintenance part, and reconstructs thefile at step S4905.

FIG. 49B shows the stored file formed by the record-editing function ofFIG. 49A.

Referring to FIG. 49B, the range from a record start time to the editingstart position is denoted by a first part (Part 1), the range from theediting start position to the editing end position is denoted by asecond part (Part 2), and the range from the editing end position to therecord end position is denoted by a third part (Part 3).

In this case, a new record file formed by the editing function iscomposed of a single file composed of only the second part (Part 2) ofthe received program.

FIG. 50A is a flow chart illustrating a method for editing the recordedprogram file according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 50A, the editing method for the recorded program filestores the received program, selects a file-merged program from amongthe stored programs, and merges the selected programs.

The reception system receives the program at step S5001, and stores thereceived program at step S5002.

The reception system selects programs to be merged into a single storagefile from among the stored programs at step S5003. In this case, aprogram to be edited may be selected from the stored list.

At the establishing step S5004 of the editing section in the selectedprogram, the merging order is established when several programs areintegrated into a single file.

The reception system merges the selected programs according to themerging order, and generates a new file at step S5005.

FIG. 50B shows the stored file formed by the record-editing function ofFIG. 50A.

Referring to FIG. 50B, if a first file (File 1) composed of a first part(Part 1) is merged with a second file (File 2) composed of a second part(Part 2), a third file (File 3) composed of the first and second parts(Part 1 and Part 2) is formed.

FIG. 51 shows an example of the stored list according to the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 51, the list of stored programs (i.e., the storedlist) may be displayed on a single UI.

The stored list may indicate the storage space in which the recordobjects are stored. For example, if the receiver has an internal storagemedium and is connected to an external storage medium via aperipheral-device connection interface, the reception system indicateswhich one of storage mediums includes the stored list.

As can be seen from the stored list, a storage capacity of a storageobject is compared with a total storage capacity of the storage medium,and the remaining storage capacity is displayed as shown in FIG. 51.

The stored list may include information of at least one record object.In this case, if all the record objects cannot be displayed on the UI atthe same time, they are displayed on different pages. In this case, thepage shifting may be executed by a page shift key or a scroll bar.

The stored list includes a record object cell indicating information ofat least one record object. Information contained in each record objectcell will hereinafter be described.

The record object cell includes identification (ID) information foridentifying individual record objects. The ID information may be programtitle information, storage time area information, image information, orplayback status information. The above-mentioned examples of the IDinformation have been disclosed for only illustrative purposes, and thescope of the ID information of the present invention is not limited tothe above-mentioned examples and can also be applied to other examplesas necessary.

The record-object cell may include an image information area. Thedisplayed image information may be Rx information or may be generated atthe storing mode. The image information may be a still image of anobject to be stored, a moving image, or a slideshow-type still image.Each image information may be indicated by a thumbnail image n which aspecific frame of video data is represented by a small-sized image lessthan an original size.

A method for generating the thumbnail image of mobile service dataaccording to the present invention will hereinafter be described.

The record object cell may include record time information. The recordtime information may indicate a record time. The record time may beindicated by at least one of a date or time.

The record object cell may include record capacity information. In thiscase, the record capacity may be denoted by capacity units or may bedenoted by a record time.

The record object cell may include detailed information of the program.The program detailed information is stored when the received programinformation is recorded, and is displayed on the record object cell. Inthis case, the program detailed information may be displayed on the samearea as the record object cell, or may also be displayed on another areadifferent from the record object cell. For example, if the object cellto be stored is highlighted, the program detailed information may bedisplayed on a pop-up window. Otherwise, the display of the stored listis switched off, and a program detailed information window may bedisplayed on different areas.

The record object cell may include playback status information of thestored program. For example, a first program which has never beenreproduced is denoted by ‘NEW’, a second program which has beencompletely reproduced is denoted by ‘COMPLETE’, and a third programwhich has not been completely reproduced is denoted by ‘PART’.

The stored list may include a variety of menu function keys, forexample, a play command key or an editing command key of the objectprogram to be stored.

There are a variety of menu functions, for example, playback functions(e.g., a first playback or previous playback), editing functions (e.g.,total selection, partial selection, or title change), a move function, acopy function, and a detailed information output function.

A method for generating the thumbnail image according to the presentinvention will hereinafter be described.

In order to provide the effective concept summary function, the storyboard, the key-frame generation, the program guide by a video browser,the thumbnail images are used. And, if required, the thumbnail imagesmay be contained in the record object cell of the stored list shown inFIG. 50, such that they may be displayed on the stored list.

The thumbnail image is a smaller-sized image of a specific frame ofvideo data. The thumbnail images can be used in various ways. Forexample, by the thumbnail images, the concept of the recorded programmay be summarized into several small-sized pictures, key-frames for thevideo indexing may be generated, or representative images to be used forthe program guide may be generated

The method for generating the thumbnail image is classified into a firstgeneration method and a second generation method. According to the firstgeneration method, the coded video frame is decoded, and the decodedvideo frame is directly reduced. According to the second generationmethod, a DC value of an I picture is used. The first generation methodmust decode all the pixels of a corresponding frame, such that itrequires a variable-length decoder.

The second generation method does not require the variable-lengthdecoder because the thumbnail images are formed by the DC value of theI-picture, resulting in the implementation of a simplified systemstructure.

The thumbnail image is a representative small-sized and low-resolutionimage of an original image, and has implication of all or some parts ofvideo data, such that the user can easily and quickly recognize theconcept of the original image. Due to the above-mentionedcharacteristics of the thumbnail image, a video frame used as the basisof the thumbnail image must not have noise, blank, and overlap partcaused by scene transition or shot transition, and must provide the userwith correct information of all or some parts of the corresponding videodata or frame. Therefore, an unclear image, which is formed by eitherthe camera movement (such as an abrupt zooming) or the blurring of thetarget object's movement, may not be used as the basis of the thumbnailimage.

If the thumbnail image for all I pictures of video data is generated, alarge number of thumbnail images are generated, so that the storagemedium may have difficulty in storing many thumbnail images. And, whenthe user searches for his or her desired concept, unnecessary thumbnailimages are used, resulting in greater inconvenience of use. The numberof thumbnail images displayed on a single screen or a single image islimited, so that it is difficult to effectively implicit or representall or some parts of video data.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a method for generatinga thumbnail image at intervals of a predetermined distance by auser-entered sampling rate may be used.

Besides, a user may decide a specific video section in which a thumbnailimage will be formed.

Namely, the thumbnail image may be unconditionally generated for each Ipicture, or the thumbnail image may be generated at intervals of apredetermined time by a prescribed sampling rate. Besides, the thumbnailimage may be generated within the user-defined section.

FIG. 52A is a block diagram illustrating a thumbnail image decoderaccording to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 52A, the thumbnail-image decoder 1200 includes a stillimage generator 5210, a test unit 5220, and a thumbnail generator 5230.

The still image generator 5210 generates either a resized video frame ofthe received video signal, or a smaller-sized still image of the actualrecovery image such as a DC image.

In this case, the thumbnail images may be generated for all I pictures,respectively. The thumbnail images may be generated for the I picturesat intervals of a predetermined time based on a predetermined samplingrate. Otherwise, the thumbnail image for each I picture may be generatedin each section.

The test unit 5220 determines whether the small-sized still image formedby the still image generator 5210 can be appropriate for a thumbnailimage.

FIG. 52B is a detailed block diagram illustrating a test unit of thethumbnail image decoder according to the present invention.

The test unit 5220 includes a still-image comparator 5221, astabilization tester 5222, and a blank tester 5223. The still-imagecomparator 5221 compares the n-th still image with the (n+1)-th stillimage. The stabilization tester 5222 determines a stable or unstablestatus using the comparison result between the two images of thestill-image comparator 5221. The blank tester 5223 determines whether anobject image is a dark image unrecognizable on the basis of apredetermined value.

In order to determine whether the image is a dark image unrecognizableon the basis of the predetermined value, all pixel values are summed up,an average value of them is calculated, such that the blank tester 5223compares the average value with a reference value to determine thepresence or absence of the dark image.

FIG. 53 is a flow chart illustrating a method for executing a previewfunction on the stored list according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 53, according to the preview-function executingmethod, the reception system outputs the recording list, selects atleast one of the recording objects, and performs a preview function ofthe selected object.

The above output step S5301 of the recording list has already beendisclosed in FIG. 51, so that its detailed description will herein beomitted for the convenience of description.

In this case, the record-object cell contained in the recording list mayrepresent the representative image at step S5302. In this case, therepresentative image may be a thumbnail image of FIG. 52, or may be astill image based on a predetermined reference.

At the selecting step S5303 of at least one record object, the recordobject cell contained in the recording list is activated and selected.In this case, the selection signal may be entered in various ways. Forexample, if a cursor moves to a program object cell on the programguide, and a corresponding program cell is highlighted, this conditionmay be considered that the selection signal has been entered. If afunction selection key of the record object cell has been entered, thiscondition may be considered that the selection signal has been entered.And, if the record object cell is highlighted on a touchscreen, thiscondition may be considered that the selection signal has been entered.However, it should be noted that the above-mentioned examples have beendisclosed for only illustrative purposes, but all kinds of units capableof activating the record object cell to be selected can be used in thepresent invention.

If a predetermined record object cell is selected, the preview functionis executed at step S5304. The reception system may display the receivedpreview images, or may display other thumbnail images formed in thereceiver.

For example, the thumbnail images of FIG. 52 may be displayed in theform of a slideshow, or the received highlighted moving images may bedisplayed.

The stored program is reduced to a small-sized program smaller than therecovery program, and is then displayed. In this case, the playbackspeed may be equal to an original recovery speed or an X-speed playbackspeed.

FIG. 54 shows a progress-information OSD according to the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 54, a progress-information OSD for the currentfunctions may be displayed.

There are a variety of progress-information OSD examples, a statusidentification cell, a time information cell, and a progress-statusindication cell.

The status identification cell includes specific information foridentifying status information of a current function. The progressstatus may be denoted by a visual position indicator, a color, ormode-text information.

FIG. 55 shows visual position indicators and mode-text informationaccording to the present invention.

The time information cell includes time information of a currentprogress status, and may include at least one time. For example, thetime information cell may include a playback time of the recordedprogram or the current playback time information of the program.

The above-mentioned progress-status indication cell may indicate cachespace including position indicator representing current position. Thecache space means a progress bar including a cache bar.

The cache bar is a meaning unit for visually indicating a currentstorage status. The cache bar increases in proportion to the storagestatus. In the case of the completely-stored record program, the cachebar and the cache space may be denoted by the same shapes.

The position indicator visually indicates a progress status (such as acurrent playback) in proportion to a total storage time. The positionindicator may be implemented with any one of all kinds of units capableof indicating current status positions. For example, an arrow, a line ora figure may be used as the position indicator. The position indicatoris shifted to another position, so that a current record status or acurrent playback status may be changed to another status. In this case,the position indicator may be directly shifted to another position, orbe shifted to another position by a control key. In order to directlyshift the position indicator, a touchscreen, a mouse pointer, aremote-controller, or any direction key of the receiver may be used.Needless to say, other signal entry units can also be available for thepresent invention.

A cache space may include time division markers, each of which divides acache space into several sections, each of which corresponds to apredetermined time. By the time division marker, the user can relativelyand visually recognize a current status.

FIG. 56 shows an example of a progress control according to the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 56, the progress status can be controlled by adirection control key or the other direction control key displayed onthe screen.

In this case, when the progress status is controlled by the directioncontrol key, for the convenience of description, the direction controlinformation of FIG. 55 may be displayed on the screen.

If the direction control key of FIG. 55 is directly displayed, the usercan directly control the progress status on the touchscreen.

As apparent from the above description, in the case of using the digitalbroadcast system and the data processing method according to the presentinvention, when mobile service data and PSI/PSIP information associatedwith the mobile service data are transmitted over a channel, the presentinvention has very resistant to errors and is easily compatible withconventional receivers.

The present invention can normally receive mobile service data withoutany errors over a poor channel which has lots of ghosts and noises.

The present invention inserts known data at a specific location of adata region, and performs signal transmission, thereby increasing thereceiving performance under a high-variation channel environment.

The present invention multiplexes the mobile service data to mainservice data according to a burst structure, thereby reducing the powerof receiver.

The present invention can be more effectively used for mobile phones ormobile receivers, channel conditions of which are excessively changedand are weak resistances to noise.

The present invention can effectively provide the user withprogram-related information using the received PSI/PSIP informationreceived with the increased reception performance.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have beendisclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art willappreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions arepossible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the inventionas disclosed in the accompanying claims.

It should be noted that most terminology disclosed in the presentinvention is defined in consideration of functions of the presentinvention, and can be differently determined according to intention ofthose skilled in the art or usual practices. Therefore, it is preferablethat the above-mentioned terminology be understood on the basis of allcontents disclosed in the present invention.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made in the present inventionwithout departing from the spirit or scope of the inventions. Thus, itis intended that the present invention covers the modifications andvariations of this invention provided they come within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of processing broadcast data in abroadcast transmitting system, the method comprising: performingReed-Solomon (RS) encoding and Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) encoding onmobile service data bytes to generate an RS frame, wherein the RS framecomprises an RS frame payload including the mobile service data bytes,RS parity data bytes added at bottom ends of columns of the RS framepayload and CRC data bytes added at right ends of rows of the RS framepayload having the RS parity data bytes; dividing the RS frame into aplurality of portions, wherein each of the plurality of portions has anequal size of data bytes; converting the data bytes of the plurality ofportions into data bits; encoding each of the data bits at a code rateof 1/H to output data symbols, wherein H is greater than 1; firstinterleaving the data symbols; converting the first interleaved datasymbols into data bytes; multiplexing, by a multiplexer, mobile servicedata packets including mobile service data corresponding to the databytes converted from the first interleaved data symbols with mainservice data packets including main service data; and secondinterleaving, by an interleaver, data of the multiplexed data packets tooutput data groups, wherein each of the data groups has first, second,and third regions, the first and third regions including main servicedata and mobile service data, the second region being positioned betweenthe first and third regions and including mobile service data, knowndata sequences, and signaling information but no main service data,wherein at least two of the known data sequences are spaced 16 segmentsapart, and wherein the signaling information includes informationindicating a number of the RS parity data bytes added at bottom ends ofcolumns of the RS frame payload.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: first randomizing the mobile service data bytes.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: second randomizing themultiplexed main service data packets and Moving Picture Experts Group(MPEG) header data in the multiplexed mobile service data packets. 4.The method of claim 1, further comprising: RS encoding the multiplexedmain service data packets with a systematic RS encoding scheme and RSencoding the multiplexed mobile service data packets with anon-systematic RS encoding scheme.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: trellis encoding data of the data groups in a trellisencoding unit, wherein at least one memory included in the trellisencoding unit is initialized at each start of the known data sequences.6. A broadcast transmitting system comprising: a Reed-Solomon (RS) frameencoder for performing RS encoding and Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC)encoding on mobile service data bytes to generate an RS frame anddividing the RS frame into a plurality of portions, wherein the RS framecomprises an RS frame payload including the mobile service data bytes,RS parity data bytes added at bottom ends of columns of the RS framepayload and CRC data bytes added at right ends of rows of the RS framepayload having the RS parity data bytes, and wherein each of theplurality of portions has an equal size of data bytes; a block processorconfigured to: convert the data bytes of the plurality of portions intodata bits, encode each of the data bits at a code rate of 1/H to outputdata symbols, wherein H is greater than 1, first interleave the datasymbols, and convert the first interleaved data symbols into data bytes;a multiplexer configured to multiplex mobile service data packetsincluding mobile service data corresponding to the data bytes convertedfrom the first interleaved data symbols with main service data packetsincluding main service data; and an interleaver configured to secondinterleave data of the multiplexed data packets to output data groups,wherein each of the data groups has first, second, and third regions,the first and third regions including main service data and mobileservice data, the second region being positioned between the first andthird regions and including mobile service data, known data sequences,and signaling information but no main service data, wherein at least twoof the known data sequences are spaced 16 segments apart, and whereinthe signaling information includes information indicating a number ofthe RS parity data bytes added at bottom ends of columns of the RS framepayload.
 7. The broadcast transmitting system of claim 6, furthercomprising: a first randomizer configured to first randomize the mobileservice data bytes.
 8. The broadcast transmitting system of claim 6,further comprising: a second randomizer configured to second randomizethe multiplexed main service data packets and Moving Picture ExpertsGroup (MPEG) header data in the multiplexed mobile service data packets.9. The broadcast transmitting system of claim 6, further comprising: anRS encoder configured to RS encode the multiplexed main service datapackets with a systematic RS encoding scheme and RS encode themultiplexed mobile service data packets with a non-systematic RSencoding scheme.
 10. The broadcast transmitting system of claim 6,further comprising: a trellis encoding unit configured to trellis encodedata of the data groups, wherein at least one memory included in thetrellis encoding unit is initialized at each start of the known datasequences.